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Powderkeg
Violence. It rustles under Los Angeles like a rat in the floorboards. It splashes from LA’s nightmares onto the movie screens of the world. And sometimes, it explodes. A gang torments a neighborhood in the early hours of the night. At a sprawling mansion estate high in the hills, a woman tells a man called Sol that, up here, he is sheltered from the violence. ‘But that violence pays for your shelter’ she points out, adding that, now, that violence can make him rich. ‘Lotus, cutie - I’m already rich‘ he replies. ‘Rich like any movie producer. Rich while the dice are rolling your way. Insecure rich. I should know’ Lotus replies as she reveals to Sol that she has been laundering money through a movie production company for years, and now she wants to offer him security. ‘A more secure way to exploit the terrified soul of this city than just action movies. I call it Armed Response’ Lotus reveals. ‘Good hook in the name. Keep going’ Sol tells her as they lounge in his swimming pool.
‘Picture a high-tech, heavy-armor security force to protect high-paying clients from the biggest and best - armed gangs that the underclass can produce’ Lotus announces. ‘A force that will deal with those criminal hordes…in the quickest and fiercest way possible’ Lotus explains as she drinks from a water bottle. ‘Beautiful’ Sol tells her. He waves his fists in the air and smiles. ‘Just beautiful! Show business - cops and heavy armaments! Every boy’s dream - all rolled into one!’ Sol peers at Lotus from behind his small spectacles, and asks her whether she can get the real cops to approve of something that big and mean. ‘They’re trying to candy-coat their image in this town, you know’ he adds. Sol leans into Lotus, who pulls away, as she reveals that there is going to be a rash of a assaults by criminal gangs against the rich and powerful in this town, which will make it impossible for the police to oppose any anti-crime force. ‘How do you know -? Oh. Baby! Yes! Now that’s showbiz!’ Sol exclaims.
‘As long as… uh… I’m not one of the rich boys on the list’ Sol quickly remarks. Lotus smiles at him and replies that she is sure the financial backer of Armed Response will be perfectly safe. Sol moves through the water so that he is in front of Lotus and tells her that she excites him. ‘I’m just a few inches short of buying into this deal… and you know what it’ll take to close that gap’ he remarks. ‘Oh yes… I always know’ Lotus replies, glancing away.
At that moment, one of the gang members fires many shots with his gun, before pulling it away, he looks at the neighborhood and tells his companion that they have made their point. ‘What?’ the other one asks. ‘You got more quarry right in your face, Charles’ the second gang member exclaims. ‘No. we don’t have to do them’ Charles replies. He grabs his companion by his shoulder, and calling him Freddie, points out that they are just kids. Indeed, a young boy and girl emerge from the rubble and rush over to the body of an older woman, lying in a pool of blood. ‘Lucia!’ the boy calls out. ‘It’s okay, Lucia…they stopped… they stopped, Lucia’ the girl tells her. ‘We were hired to make this ugly, right?’ Freddie reminds Charles, as he raises his weapon again.
‘Freddie - let it go!’ Charles calls out, trying to pull Freddie back. ‘So let’s make it all the way - ugly’ Freddie declares as he raises his weapon and fires two bullets at the children, blowing them away. ‘Freddie…you didn’t have to’ Charles whispers, hanging his head. ‘Grow up, Charles. These aren’t people - they’re income opportunities’ Freddie declares, before noticing a police car approaching. ‘Now lift that piece and - whoops, quicker this time’ he declares. More gang members appear, one of them holds some sort of bazooka weapon and states that it isn’t South-Central getting bloody this time, but Beverly Hills. ‘This time the chief of police might even let a few cops get hurt’ another gang member suggests. ‘Not much choice’ the first replies as he fires the bazooka at the police car, sending it up in flames. The man smiles, ‘Now let’s show ‘em the real surprise’ he tells his companions.
The gang members start pulling some equipment out of a car trunk, and one of them addresses the white member of the gang as Flaco, asking him if he hears a copter. They start putting the equipment on their backs, some sort of flight pack, as Flaco replies ‘Yeah, and that means one thing. Everybody keep together and make it pretty for the people’. The gang members then take flight, past a copter, which Flaco identifies as the Channel 3 news chopper. ‘My favorite! They got the cutest Japanese anchorwoman of all of ‘em! Come on, homies… let’s wave to the camera!’ Flaco grins.
And, in the apartment building of Gloria Angel, the elderly woman watches the news footage, as a reporter states that the gang members escaped apprehension with rocket packs. ‘Disgraceful. Completely disgraceful’ Gloria exclaims as she sits on her sofa. She declares that something has to be done, that someone ought to be brought in to stop this. ‘How could this happen to Los Angeles?’ she wonders. She recalls that when she used to go out, and experience the city, it was enchanted, but now it has become so violent and dangerous and bizarre that she can only see it through television. ‘How can a city change so much?’ Gloria wonders. She holds up a photograph of herself from many years ago and decides that she wouldn’t have dreamed of wasting her time with TV back then. She was a beauty contest winner, an actress, and the loveliest of men in Hollywood wanted to be with her. She could have won the heart of any man then. ‘Even… Simon’ she tells herself, quietly.
Suddenly, Gloria hears a thumping noise outside her apartment door. She hopes that it is not some criminal gang, but when she opens it, she smiles. ‘Oh! It’s you! I’m so glad you’re back, Mr Williams! It’s been so terrible here!’ Gloria tells Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man. She goes into the corridor and informs Simon that the city has gone mad, and that she has been feeling so odd since he exploded and they were all hit by his energy. When she realizes he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to her, Gloria asks Simon why he looks different, somehow. The handsome hero has started to make his way up the staircase in the corridor and tells Gloria that he is different - different from anything she has ever known.Simon announces that he is moving out, and tells Gloria she can keep his security deposit, because he won’t need it. ‘But what about what’s happening to the city? What about the violence?’ Gloria enquires. Simon says nothing, before replying that the city has not seen violence yet. He carries on up the stairs, ignoring Gloria as she calls out to him again. The old woman puts her hands to her head, ‘Oh, dear Lord, everything’s gone insane! I wish I didn’t have to think about it! I wish I didn’t have to hear the news!’ she remarks, before covering her entire face, wishing that Entertainment Tonight was on now so that she could just forget everything and escape.Suddenly - there is a flash of energy, and Gloria hears the television back in her apartment. ‘In a city as rich in legends as Hollywood, few glitter as brightly as…’ someone on the television says. ‘Is that…is that Leeza?’ Gloria asks herself, realizing that Entertainment Tonight is not on for hours. ‘It’s can’t -’ she begins to say, before walking back into her apartment, she is shocked: ‘Dear Lord, is that… me?’ Gloria utters as she sees herself sitting on the sofa, smiling and watching TV.
Meanwhile, in a rundown apartment, two of the gang members, as well as Flaco are sitting on a couch, their weapons on the table in front of them, as they watch a news report of their earlier violence. ‘Hey! That’s me!’ one of them exclaims, adding that he can’t believe they showed what he did on TV. ‘They got no standards no more, man’ the other gang member replies, while Flaco tells them that their friend, Charles, lost it, and that he has no business in a gang this bad. Lotus appears carrying a tray of drinks, and tells the men not to worry, assuring them that Charles will be removed in the next phase of their operation. ‘Now, which two of you wanted Corona, and which one wanted Colt.45?’ she asks. One of the gangsters tells Lotus not to play games, and asks what she means by “removed”. Lotus perches on the arm of the couch and replies that they will do whatever they must to protect and serve the most powerful street-army that Los Angeles has ever seen. ‘Street-army, nice!’ one of the thugs exclaims.
Lotus continues, ‘From all the oppressed and disenfranchised, the exploited…we’ll cull the toughest. The angriest. And make this city of lies and dreams…wake up with a scream’. One of the thugs knocks back his drink and tells Lotus not to try and sell him politics, as that is where the old gangs went wrong. ‘Just give me gold…and I give back lead. Know what I’m saying?’ he remarks, while the other thug alerts Flaco to the television, ‘There’s you waving at the copter again’ he remarks. The other thug continues to drink his beer, and reveals that everyone called him a psycho loser, Crips and Bloods wouldn’t take him because they are all into their truce jive. ‘Now they’ll know who’s a loser’ he declares. Lotus tells the men that after the insane outbursts of Angkor, Gamma Burn, Goliath and the one that works for her now, Rampage, Los Angeles is primed for this. She adds that anyone can do violence, but that she has learned how to use it - after all, she has known violence all too well.
Flashback images:Lotus remembers being a child and seeing her mother lying motionless on the floor, while a man stands over her body. ‘Mother…?’ Lotus called out, but the man turned to her and grabbed young Lotus by her hair, telling her that she has no mother anymore and no father - only him.
Present:‘Lotus. Yo, Lotus!’ one of the thugs calls out when he realizes she doesn’t seem to be paying attention. Lotus snaps back to the present, and remarks ‘As I was saying…do what I tell you…and LA will be yours. Just don’t get caught’. Lotus warns the thugs that some people seem aware of their arrangement - like Wonder Man. ‘Oh, save me!’ one of the thugs mutters. ‘The world’s dumbest super hero! Everybody says so’ another points out. The first adds that he hopes Wonder Man shows up, so maybe they can get some laughs.
Meanwhile, teenager Jamie Flores lies on her bed, a notebook in front of her, she is trying to think of a codename for herself. ‘Dream Girl? Gross. Spirit. Soul. Soul-Spirit. Great. Wake me up when I start to snore’ she tells herself, before deciding that she has to think about this. ‘What are the powers? You flew, right? Okay. Flying Spirit. Flight. Fly Girl’. She decides that no one will believe she is a fly girl, and rattles off some more names - Flight-Girl, Flight-Queen, Princess. Lass. Chick. Babe. She screams, and declares that this is driving her crazy. Jamie goes out of her room and finds her mother, Alex and asks her if she can think of any good superhero names. ‘For a girl, I mean. a young girl… like… my age’. Putting some papers into her bag, Alex replies ‘Your age, huh? How about Puberty Lass. Or Constant Depression Girl? Or maybe Hormona, Maid of a Million Moods?’ Alex suggests.
‘This is no joke, Mom’ Jamie complains. Alex tells her daughter that she knows some weird stuff has been happening since Simon blew up on them, but that she really doesn’t think Jamie is going to need a super hero name. Alex then tells her daughter that she has a humiliating meeting with a sadistic producer, not to mention a screaming headache. ‘Still?’ Jamie asks. ‘Who has a headache for three days?’ she wonders. ‘Only the truly deserving, dear’ Alex replies. ‘Now, unless you want a headache that lasts -’ Alex begins as she opens the front door and starts to leave, only to bump into Wonder Man who is standing on the doorstep. ‘I didn’t expect you! Where’ve you been, Simon? What…what?’ Alex asks, noticing Simon does not look very happy. ‘What’s wrong?’ Alex asks him quietly. Simon’s eyes glow red, and he looks stern as he replies that nothing is wrong, that everything is as it was made to be. ‘I came to say goodbye. I won’t be seeing you anymore’ he announces. ‘WHAT?’ Alex gaps. ‘You think you can just walk away like that?’ she snaps at him.
‘Ever since you blasted us with your powers - Jamie’s having strange dreams, Argus’s vision has gone crazy - Lahoya’s muscles are in agony and Aundray’s gone manic depressive -’ Alex reveals to Simon, who asks ‘I…I did that to them? Just like Angkor’. ‘What?’ Alex asks. ‘A monk…turned into a monster by my ionic energy. And now…all of you’ Simon tells her. He tenses his body and ionic energy flows around him. ‘But then…isn’t it fitting? After all, wasn’t I made to be… a “living engine of destruction”?’ Simon declares, before quickly taking flight.
Elsewhere, Lotus and her companion, Andrew who is wearing a purple suit stand in a room filled with monitors, as she keeps an eye on the people in her life. ‘Lotus wants me, G!’ Flaco can be seen saying to one of the thugs on a monitor. ‘You? She leaned over me when she brought the beer’ the thug replies. On another monitor, Sol Sterling is on the phone: ‘Yeah. A check for half a mil. To Armed Response’, he instructs the person he is speaking to to put it against their losses on “Impossible Man: The Movie”. Lotus announces that everything falls into place, to which Andrew tells her that he still can’t believe what she did. ‘You - a woman of such power and dignity - serving them! Using sex on them!’ Lotus tells Andrew that sex is interesting to use as violence, that it is fascinating to see what strange power she has over these men, to observe her own ploys.
‘Observe, as if from outside. I long ago learned to separate my mind from my body…when my father gave me to my mother’s killer just to pay off his debts’ Lotus reveals. She presses a button on the control panel, switching the monitors off, and she leans on the console, raising a leg, she rubs her foot on Andrew’s groin. ‘Who can understand men? For twenty minutes of ecstasy they’ll make concession that will haunt them for years’ Lotus declares, adding that twenty minutes is giving too much credit to most of them. Lotus tells Andrew that she is glad that the traumas of his life have left him incapable of that which her own emotional triumphs have left her so cold. ‘What a pair we are’ she mutters. Andrew doesn’t respond to anything Lotus has said or is doing to him, and simply tells her that she should not have told Sol Sterling that she is orchestrating this gang violence. ‘He’s too shrewd. And too cynical. He’d have figured it out’ Lotus replies, to which Andrew asks her how they keep Sol from using the information against her. ‘Oh, Andrew! That’s easy!’ Lotus smiles.
‘NO!’ Sol Sterling shouts, as he stands in front of his mansion, which suddenly explodes. He races across the lawn, ‘Somebody help me! Somebody help me!’ he calls out, when one of the gang members appears behind him - and Sol goes wide-eyed as bullets are fired into him. ‘They’ve hit’ someone states from a nearby location. Four men wearing black and white armor stand on a cliff as one looks through some high-tech binoculars, enabling him to see Sol’s mansion on fire. ‘Only five minutes late. Not bad for subhuman scum’ one of the men remarks. ‘Media copters coming in’ another reports. ‘Just in time for the world premiere of - ARMED RESPONSE!’ the fourth exclaims as the men take flight.
Back at her home, Alex is listening to the radio and speak with Gloria over the telephone, while Jamie lies asleep on the sofa. ‘…fire and gunshots in the Hollywood Hills believed to be another explosion of gang violence’ a radio announcer reports, while Alex tells Gloria to forget the gangs, that they have to talk about Simon, seriously, as he is acting strange, scary even. ‘I called Avengers West Coast. They sounded concerned - but wouldn’t say what they’d do’ Alex reveals, before suggesting that all of them who were zapped should come together and compare. She tells Gloria not tonight, as Jamie has just crashed on the couch and this is the first peaceful sleep she has seen her in for days. Alex informs Gloria that she is going to try to get some sleep herself, before bidding Gloria goodnight. On the couch, Jamie starts floating outside of herself - literally. ‘Huh?’ she wonders, looking down and seeing her double lying on the couch. Jamie’s new form glows, and she smiles: ‘Yes, yes! It’s real! It’s not just a dream! I’m flying!’
Back at Sol’s mansion, flames have spread to a car and onto the grounds, as the gang members gather together, one of them asks where the cars are, as Lotus said there would be cars to get them out. ‘That’s why she said we wouldn’t need the rocket-packs this time. Something stinks here!’ another exclaims, as the Armed Response team appears overhead, ‘Primary target in view. Let’s hit’ one of them reports. ‘Wait!’ another calls out, altering everyone else to the fact that someone else has barged in here - and they see Wonder Man drop down onto the thugs, knocking several of them out at once. Before the other thugs can react, Wonder Man kicks one of them in the face, while pushing another thug back into a third. Wonder Man knocks two aside with ease, while Charlie, still amongst the group, gets scared.
Up in the air, one of the Armed Response operatives tells the others that the Wonder Man they studied on video never fought like this, and instructs someone to radio HQ and ask how they should handle this, while, at that moment, ‘No! Please! No!’ one of the gang members pleads as Wonder Man starts to toss him through the air. Wonder Man grabs a gun and pulls it away from one of the thugs, while Charlie starts to rush away, telling Freddie that he won’t fight Wonder Man, that he is gone. ‘You’re a coward, Charles. Wonder Man is nothing’ Freddie boasts as he raises a bazooka, and at close range, fires it at Wonder Man, creating a blinding burst of energy. As Wonder Man gathers himself, Freddie re-loads the bazooka and declares that Wonder Man is going to lose his cool, like he has seen on TV. ‘Gonna start yelling his head off. And then I’m gonna put a rocket right down his throat. Come on, Wondy Man!’ Freddie calls out.
Simon frowns and sits up, as Freddie tells him that there is nothing he can do to them but take them to the cops, anyway. ‘Come on! Throw a tantrum!’ he exclaims, asking him to sat something funny - but Freddie looks surprised as Wonder Man strides towards him and grabs the bazooka, throwing it into the air, it explodes. ‘Wait…’ Freddie pleads as Wonder Man grabs him and starts an unrelenting attack, punching Freddie at least twelve times in the face in a flurry of muscular blows meeting weakening flesh. Freddie lays face-down in the rubble, as Wonder Man stands over him and asks ‘Funny enough for you?’ When, suddenly, a voice calls out ‘We’re not laughing, Simon. We have to talk’. Simon turns around and standing amongst the rubble are Hawkeye, the USAgent, the Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman and Living Lightning…Simon’s teammates in the Avengers West Coast - and they look none too happy….


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Explosion!
‘Forget it, Simon! You’ve shed enough blood for one night!’ Clint “Hawkeye” Barton exclaims as he and John Walker the USAgent try to restrain Simon “Wonder Man” Williams, their teammate on the Avengers West Coast, on the flaming ruins of the LA mansion belonging to Sol Sterling. USAgent frowns as Wonder Man shouts ‘Not half enough, Hawkeye - not as long as those murderers are still out there!’ Wonder Man tries to break free, and sees some of the gang members start to run. ‘We’ll get ‘em, Williams - but we’ll get ‘em right’. Hawkeye tells his friend. ‘Don’t talk to me about right! They chose violence when they started slaughtering people - now let them pay the price!’ Wonder Man exclaims.
‘What happened to you, Simon? Your problem always used to be your lack of passion - your resistance to playing hero!’ Hawkeye tells Simon. ‘I’m not sure you are Simon’ Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch remarks as she and Julia “Spider-Woman” Carpenter stand nearby. ‘How would you know, Wanda? Did anybody ever really know who Simon Williams was - even me?’ Simon calls back as Hawkeye and USAgent continue to restrain him. Miguel Santos, the Living Lightning, hovers overhead and tells the others that they can fight this out, while he corrals the flying gang bangers. Before Living Lightning can dart away though, several men wearing black and white armoured costumes drop down from above. ‘We won’t be needing you, Avengers. My fellow operatives have the situation under control’ one of the men announces. ‘And who - the frag - are you?’ Wonder Man snarls.
‘ARMED RESPONSE!’ one of the men replies, while another declares that they are the next step in American security. ‘And if the owner of this mansion had subscribed to our service…he’d be alive right now!’ one of them adds. Another then excuses himself and his teammates, stating that they have to demonstrate to their criminal opponents just who has the better technology. ‘What do we do now?’ the Scarlet Witch asks. Spider-Woman suggests that since the sky is suddenly full of media choppers, they should wait until the LAPD arrive, so they can tell them what to do. ‘Media - police - all cowards and idiots!’ Wonder Man exclaims as he throws Hawkeye and USAgent over his shoulder, announcing that he will get the answers for himself. USAgent frowns again and calls out ‘Stop right there, “Wonder Man”! Or do you have another name - an alien name?’ he asks.
The Scarlet Witch tells USAgent that he is right, that Simon is acting almost like one of the Magus’ creations, like Wonder Man’s doppelganger. ‘Can’t face the truth, can you? You know I was there…trapped in the Magus’ trophy room, with all the heroes who were taken over by doppelgangers, while Warlock and the Magus fought over their precious Infinity Gauntlet!’ Wonder Man reminds his teammates, recalling that part of the cosmic adventure. He remembers Warlock and the Magus fighting, and turns to the Scarlet Witch, telling his friend that he was there when their fight disrupted reality, and Galactus had to pull them back into this plane of being. ‘Yeah, I’m the real Wonder Man - more real than the buffoon I’ve been playing for years’. ‘Real?’ Wanda asks. ‘Or just angry? Just insane?’
Simon tells Wanda that the world is insane, and asks if she wants a quick fix, a little action to make everything right, then she can meet her new hero - him. ‘And what do you think happens when one act of violence is met with another?’ Living Lightning asks, shaking his finger at Wonder Man. ‘Look at my neighborhood’ Living Lightning points out, explaining that when cops use intimidation instead of community trust to maintain control, and kids use physical resistance to hang onto their pride, the violence only escalates. Simon frowns, ‘Maybe so, Lightning. But the escalation stops…when it gets to me!’ he smiles. ‘You want everything to end like this? We gotta prevent this, Williams!’ someone calls out. ‘Yeah?’ Simon asks as he witnesses one of the Armed Response operatives shoot down one of the escaping gang members.
Simon tells his teammates that he will leave it to these gentle folk to work out a non-violent solution, while he finds a quicker solution himself. He takes flight, and the Living Lightning suggests to the others that they better keep an eye on him. ‘Something’s wrong with him… I know it!’ Wanda exclaims, while USAgent suggests that perhaps some of the family traits are coming through, reminding the others that Wonder Man is the Grim Reaper’s brother.
Meanwhile, Jamie Flores, the daughter of Wonder Man’s friend Alex floats high above the hills. Birds fly alongside her, and she exclaims ‘I can’t believe this! I mean, this is so great! Flying! Me!’ She keeps thinking that she is going to wake up, that it is just another one of her crazy dreams, and she supposes it is, sort of, as her body is back home, asleep, but her mind, her dreaming mind, is free. She comes to the burning mansion and thinks ‘That’s funny. I had a feeling that something bad was going on here. Almost like…well, like in a dream!’ She decides that it looks bad below, with fire, helicopters and shots being fired. ‘Oh!’ Jamie gasps when she sees the gang member called Charlie confronted by two of the Armed Response operatives. ‘You’re the boy the boss wants dead’ one of the gang members announces. ‘Why? Why?’ Charlie responds. ‘You just weren’t a bad enough bad-guy, Charles/ You didn’t play your role’ the second operative replies, before holding his hand to Charlie’s head, ‘Please, I’ll -’ Charlie begins, before the weapons device attached to the Armed Response operative’s wrist is fired at very close range. ‘No’ Jamie utters, closing her eyes and looking very upset.
Back on the couch in her living room, ‘No!’ Jamie exclaims as she wakes up. ‘Mom?’ she calls out, and sees her mother on the phone, she tells the person she is speaking to, Gloria Angel, that she has to hang up. ‘It’s just…yeah, bye’ Alex Flores mutters, before Jamie exclaims ‘Mom! They shot him! They’re supposed to be cops or something, but they -’ she begins, before Alex, clutching her head, replies ‘Not now, I’m so stressed…everything happening…Simon acting so strange…and my head is so…’ her voice trails off as Jamie tells her mother that she saw them, that she was flying - but before she can continue, ‘Not now! I feel like I’ve got a flaming stick between my eyes and if I don’t’ get some quiet I’ll - explode?!’ Alex snaps, as suddenly, a projection or vision of Wonder Man bursts forth from Alex’s head and lunges at Jamie.
And, in his office, Neal Saroyan, Simon’s agent, is watching a news report of Wonder Man and his teammates with the Armed Response operatives, as the announcer states that as the Avengers West Coast battled amongst themselves, the Armed Response wrapped up the gang of killers. Neal is impressed by Armed Response and wonders if he should look into their rates, in case that goliath ever comes looking for him again. Picking up the phone, he gets no response. ‘Come on! Answer! Answer!’ he mutters.
And, in the living room of the boy called Spider, he wears an optic visor over his eyes and looks at the ringing phone: ‘Oh man! You’re just not giving up are you? When’s a man supposed to practice his air guitar?’ He then picks the phone up: ‘Yeah?’ he mutters. ‘Spider! You’re supposed to be Wonder Man’s sidekick, right? So where are you He’s all over the news! Can you find him?’ Neal asks. ‘Ha! Neal, my sister is the living grandmaster at finding Wondy, or is that Grand-mistress?’ Spider replies, adding that his sister is always following Wonder Man around looking for trouble. ‘That’s how we got in on that Angkor bit, and…’ Spider’s voice trails off as he remembers that is also how he got blasted by Wondy’s ionic rays, and wonders if he wants to do this. ‘Yes! This is major publicity! Go!’ Neal shouts before slamming the phone down. Spider looks perplexed and supposes that is what agents are for. He decides he better check the droning news-heads to see where Wondy is. Spider scratches his side and wonders why he is feeling so itchy lately, almost like his skin is going to burst open.
Meanwhile, at Lotus Newmark’s facility, she too is watching various news reports on the Armed Response phenomena, with one reporter declaring that all of Los Angeles is talking about Armed Response. The phone number to contact Armed Response appears on screen, as the reporter adds that another gang assault is stopped by Armed Response, and announces that Armed Response refuse to give interviews. ‘A good opening night’ Lotus’ companion, Andrew, remarks as he stands next to Lotus as they watch various monitors. Andrew tells Lotus that it can only get better when the first Armed Response commercials air tonight. Lotus replies that they did their ground work well - setting up Goliath and Gamma Burn so that LA would begin to fear explosions of senseless violence. She adds that then, with a bit of luck, there was the Angkor debacle, and the double-Earth phenomenon, which most Americans just took as an astronomical oddity, while the LA media insisted upon finding omens in it.
‘By the time we unleashed our “gang war”, this city was primed’ Lotus points out. The reporter states that amongst those at the scene of the carnage was Wonder Man. Lotus hears this and looks angry, ‘Always, always on the scene! He must know something!’ Lotus exclaims, announcing that she wants him gone. Lotus turns to her own super powered operatives - Rampage and Splice, and instructs them that she wants Wonder Man gone.
On a traffic-clogged freeway, many cars are listening in to reports on Armed Response, with one announcer informing listeners that al lines are open for their opinions on Armed Response. ‘Well, somebody’s gotta make these criminals pay’ someone suggests, while another declares that it sounds like nobody wants to talk about the election today. High above, soaring through the air is Wonder Man, who tells himself that he has been a member of the Avengers for so long, but that suddenly they feel like strangers, enemies. He decides that it is different without Tony Stark, as he shaped his life - when they were rivals in the munitions business, as it was Simon’s even of Stark that drove him to crime, to Baron Zemo, and to becoming Wonder Man. Simon recalls that as Iron Man, it was Stark who cradled him in his arms when he died, and who helped inspire him to be a “hero” when he returned to life. ‘And now he’s dead again’ Simon thinks.
‘Destroyed by the violence that defines our “heroic” existences. What does that say… about heroism?’ Simon asks himself, when suddenly, nearby, two of the gang bangers, armed with jet packs, fly nearby. Simon decides that this is a chance to find out what they are really up to, and why their jet packs look exactly like Rampage’s did. ‘But more than that… a chance to channel my rage’ Wonder Man thinks to himself, as he flies off after them.
Meantime, the Avengers’ Quinjet scours the skies in search of their teammate, and outside, Living Lightning darts about, informing his teammates inside the Quinjet that he has spotted Wonder Man, that he is west bound toward the Fairfax district. Inside at the controls, Spider-Woman tells Hawkeye that she has Wonder Man on screen and that he does look like a happy boy. Hawkeye tells Spider-Woman to stay with Wonder Man, while he goes and tells the others.
Down below, aspiring actress Ginger looks up and sees the Quinjet above her. ‘Some kind of Avenger-mobile, yeah?’ she asks herself. ‘Spider said they might be dogging Simon’s butt…’ she recalls.
And nearby, Splice looks through some binoculars and informs Rampage that he sees the Living Lightning. ‘He may be our best lead’ Splice suggests. ‘Then let’s go’ Rampage replies, remarking that Wonder Man humiliated him, got him thrown in jail, broke up the Recession Raiders. ‘I’d say he has some things to make up for’ Rampage scowls.
Another neighborhood under attack from gang members, one of whom fires a barrage of bullets, before calling out to his gang ‘Yo - somebody coming down! Must be them Arm-Response mothers! Don’t like the way they always showin’ up just when we -’ but he doesn’t get to finish his sentence, as Wonder Man drops down amongst them, and orders them to get down on the street, otherwise he will plant them in it. ‘You ain’t Arm-Response! I thought the boss was getting rid of you!’ the gang member calls out. ‘Don’t hear real well, do you?’ Wonder Man replies, before one of the gang members starts firing at him. The bullets do nothing, so Wonder Man lunges at one of the gangsters and grabs him by the throat, offering to open a new set of ear-holes. ‘No! I’m dropping the piece! Look!’ the gangster calls back. ‘And here I thought you were stupid’ Wonder Man remarks, before asking the gang member who their boss is. The gangster claims that he doesn’t now, explaining that he just takes the cash and does whatever the leader tells him.
‘All I know is we had to speed things up because of you’ the gang member adds. ‘What?’ Simon asks, confused. The gang member tells him that the boss thought Wonder Man was sniffing around and got freaked, said that they had to hit harder, faster and bloodier. ‘So. Another feat for the “hero”’ Simon mutters to himself. ‘I create Angkor, blast my friends with ions, give up my humanity to keep my powers. And now I inspire a blood bath…by scaring somebody I didn’t even know existed!’ Wonder Man shouts, lifting the gangster up he then slams him to the ground, demanding to know which is the leader. One of the gang members then takes flight with the jet pack, ‘Oh jeez…’ he mutters. ‘In a hurry?’ Wonder Man asks, as he reaches up and grabs the fleeing gangster’s ankle, ‘Please. Give me just a moment of your time. Maybe there’s something you can tell me’ Wonder Man suggests as he pulls the gangster down and slams him into a brick wall.
Suddenly, ‘Drop him, Wondy!’ Spider-Woman calls out to her friend as she, USAgent, Hawkeye and Living Lightning appear. ‘We let you go with just a walking to last time! But this time -’ USAgent begins, before Wonder Man leans forward and punches him in the face. ‘This time you’re going to take me down, is that a threat? Don’t scare me, Agent’ Simon declares. ‘Don’t scare me with your awesome power!’ Wonder Man mocks as he then kicks USAgent in the stomach, hard, as Agent cries out in pain. Spider-Woman leaps onto Wonder Man’s back and tells him to stop, ‘You’ll kill him!’ she exclaims. ‘Stop it, Simon!’ Wonder Man mockingly replies. ‘That’s all I’ve heard! Stop the violence! Stop the rage!’ he declares as he grabs Spider-Woman and throws her over his shoulder. ‘I can’t stop it. The world can’t stop it. So some on, Avengers. You try to stop it’ Wonder Man snarls, gritting his teeth.
‘Think we can’t, Williams?’ Living Lightning asks as he appears overhead and sends a powerful electrical charge downwards, coursing through Simon’s body. Wonder Man collapses and Hawkeye aims an arrow at him, telling him to take it easy, as this is an electro-arrow with his name on it. The Scarlet Witch walks towards her friend and tells him that they know he is troubled, that they know his powers have been destabilized so that he has to remain angry to remain strong. ‘Troubled? You just won’t get it…will you?’ Simon replies. ‘Playing nice-nice, following your little rules…just being good folks under your costumes. You just won’t see that it’s a lie’ Simon tells them. ‘When you’ve chosen force as a way of life…there’s nothing real you can be…but force incarnate!’ Wonder Man booms as he bursts upwards, throwing dirt at Hawkeye and punching the Scarlet Witch, knocking her backwards. ‘That’s it, man! If you hurt Wanda -’ the Living Lightning begins as he flickers nearby, until Wonder Man tells his young teammate that he talks to much, while grabbing a nearby hose and blasting water at Living Lightning, who screams, and darts back into the sky.
A news chopper is keeping watch, ‘The Living Lightning screams into the blood-tinged LA sky as a berserk Wonder Man…’ the reporter begins, while back down below, USAgent leaps towards Wonder Man, who mutters that everyone’s problem here is that they talk too much. ‘Blast it! You’re faster than you -’ USAgent begins, before Wonder Man grabs him, and shoves his knee into the Agent’s face. ‘Action should be all we deal in - don’t you think so, Agent?’ Wonder Man asks. He takes another punch at his teammate and suggests that they reaffirm what they are engines of destruction and do the world’s dirty work. ‘But don’t even pretend to be -’ Wonder Man begins, as suddenly, someone shouts ‘GANG-WAY!’, and Wonder Man utters ‘No’ as he sees Spider skateboard onto the scene. ‘Made it! I was afraid I’d be too late to make the six o’clock news!’ Spider exclaims.Wonder Man tells Spider to get out of here, to which the teen replies ‘Hey, come on, you need me, man! For brains, if nothing else. I mean hero vs. hero fights make great media…but lousy PR!’ Wonder Man starts to sternly tell Spider to leave, to which Spider points out that whomping on your sidekick doesn’t look much better. ‘What if Adam west had gone around pounding on Burt Ward? Heck, the whole Baby Boom generation might’ve ended up warped, you know?’ Spider suggests. ‘Of course, considering how the Boomers did turn out, things couldn’t of been much w-’ Spider begins, until Wonder Man leans forward, ‘GET OUT!’ he shouts. Spider decides that he doesn’t like the look in Wonder Man’s flaming red eyes and supposes that it is time he split - when suddenly, Spider does “split” into three other identical beings.
‘What the -’ Wonder Man begins, confused, while the Spiders exclaim ‘Whoa! It’s me! Cool! It’s me!’ Wonder Man frowns and realizes that this is his doing yet again, that he caused this. ‘Can you un-cause it?’ Hawkeye asks, rubbing the back of his head. ‘Whoa! Cool! Whoa! It’s me!’ the Spiders call out. Wonder Man clenches his fists and realizes that this is the same bombardment by his ions that affected Argus, Jamie and the others - only more extreme. ‘And who knows what still awaits them?’ Simon realizes.
‘Everything around me! Twisted by death - by the bizarre - by the inhuman’ Wonder Man shouts, turning away from the others. ‘Wonder Man. The inhuman wonder. The inhuman man’ he laments. The Scarlet Witch approaches him once again and tells him not to say such things. ‘Simon? Come back, Simon’ Wanda calls out. She admits that she doesn’t know all that has happened to him, but tells him that she knows he is human. ‘What’s changed, Simon? What’s burning in you?’ Wanda asks. ‘Is it the doubts - the questions about your past? What’s happened to you?’ Suddenly, Wonder Man spins around, frowning, teeth gritted, he asks, ‘You want to know what I’ve become, Wanda? Let me show you!’ as he leaps towards the woman he loves, ready to strike another blow….


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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The Ashes Fall
‘Little Scarlet Witch wanted to see some action, huh? LOOK FAST!’ Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man roars in a rage, as he holds Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch down by her throat, his other hand has formed a fist and he is ready to strike her. ‘No, Simon! No!’ Wanda pleads with her friend. ‘Don’t you know me, Simon? It’s Wanda!’
‘I know you, Wanda. I loved you once. Even when you were married to a man with a mockery of my soul. I loved you’ Simon replies. He relaxes the hand around Wanda’s throat as she asks him to let her up now. ‘You want tenderness, Wanda? You want me to just switch off the violence that I just turned against the bad guys?’ Simon asks, his eyes blazing red, his skin darkened. ‘Simon - what’s wrong with you?’ Wanda asks.
‘Wonder Man IS violence! That violence has been released!’ Wonder Man declares. ‘Simon, no!’ Wanda cries, and as more energy crackles around Wonder Man, he tells Wanda that she can’t put it back in the bottle. He then brings his fist down, hard and fast. ‘NO!’ screams Wanda, but Simon doesn’t strike her, his fist punches the rubble behind her.
Simon turns and walks away from Wanda, who sits up and quietly calls out to him. ‘Do you get it now, Wanda? I’m not the man you thought you knew’ Simon tells her, adding ‘I’m not a man at all. The brother of the Grim Reaper. I’m a “living engine of destruction”’.
Wanda starts to get to her feet, and asks Simon to tell her what happened to him, pointing out that she might be able to help him. ‘Help me? Help to quiet the ionic storm that forms in my body? Help me shrivel into weakness and nothingness?’ Simon asks, adding ‘No. I need rage to sustain my power now. And for me, power is life’. He states that he has been reborn in the fire and madness of the ions - there is no way back for him.
Suddenly, Wonder Man is struck by an energy, and he cries out in agony, falling to the ground. Wonder Man looks up and sees Miguel Santos a.k.a. the Living Lightning hovering over him, ‘Not like you to hit from the back, Lightning’ Wonder Man points out. Living Lightning replies that he does what he has to when an Avenger attacks other Avengers.
As Clint “Hawkeye” Barton, John Walker the USAgent and Julia “Spider-Woman” Carpenter rush forward to their teammates, Wonder Man announces that it doesn’t apply, because he is not an Avenger anymore. ‘What?’ the Living Lightning gasps. ‘What do you want, huh? You want me to blast more innocent people with my ions - and mutate them like my friends?’ Wonder Man asks. ‘You want me to create more monsters - like Angkor? You want me to tear up this city - like I tore up this block - and nearly tore up all of you? No, you want a hero Lightning. You want a nice boy. You don’t even want to get close to me’ Wonder Man warns, turning from his now ex-teammates, he strides away from them.
‘Simon, wait -’ Wanda calls out as she joins the others, but Spider-Woman holds her friend back, telling her to let Simon go, that they can’t help him right now. ‘Right now? Kiss him goodbye, sweetie’ USAgent declares. ‘Your Wonder Boy finally took a dive off the deep end’. Living Lightning suggests that it might be good Wonder Man has gone, while a frowning Hawkeye asks ‘Good for who?’ and points out that if Wonder Man is turning this dangerous, he would rather have him in a group than firing away as a loose cannon.
Elsewhere:‘Wonder Man! This isn’t the first time I’ve ordered him dead - but I want it to be the last!’ the crime lord Lotus Newmark instructs her operatives Rampage and Splice, while her companion, Andrew, stands nearby. Splice announces that he did some reading on Wonder Man, in the hospital, where he ended up last time they met, and boasts that he knows how to handle him, so he won’t need Rampage.
Rampage points out that they both have their reasons to see Wonder Man die, but that this is just one step in a long-term plan, and that if they don’t work efficiently together, they may only destroy themselves together. ‘No! Splice is right, Lotus! Sending Rampage may draw publicity - and if anyone sees the similarity between his armor and that of Armed Response, we’ll be ruined’ Andrew points out. ‘And just when all the pieces are falling into place’ Andrew adds, motioning to a monitor which depicts a news reporter announcing ‘…as they stop yet another gang assault! Many see the paramilitary Armed Responses as saviors of this terrified city… and already thousands of would-be customers are lighting up the Armed Response switchboard’.
Lotus concedes that, unfortunately, this is one of those rare occasions when Andrew knows better than she. Lotus then asks how she keeps Wonder Man from poking into their operations if she doesn’t kill him. Andrew suggests to Lotus that she can trick Wonder Man out of town - find something he wants, or needs - ‘You won’t need tricks if you use me’ Splice declares, interrupting. Lotus frowns, and tells Splice to have patience, adding that she is sure she will find someone for him to kill. ‘Now, how does one lure away a super hero? Or… an actor?’ Lotus asks, before asking if that is still Wonder Man’s goal - to be a serious actor. Andrew looks concerned as Lotus instructs him to find out what movies they are funding that are out of town.
‘Okay, okay, I’m concentrating…  concentrating on me…  and the board… on me… and the…’COOL!’ the boy called Spider exclaims when suddenly he creates two doubles of himself in his living room. ‘It’s not just me I can clone. It’s the stuff I’m holding!’ he realizes, seeing that his doubles are both holding skateboards, too. ‘Now where’s that twenty dollar b-’ he begins when suddenly, his hand snaps up, and he drops his skateboard. ‘YOW!’ he calls out, surprised. His sister, Ginger, is standing nearby, her hand glowing, she smiles and remarks that she keeps expecting this “snap” power of hers to wear off, but that it just keeps going. ‘And going… and going… and going…’ Spider mutters.
Ginger adds that it keeps getting stronger all the time, ‘Unless you’re just overacting, little brother’. ‘Right, Ginger! As if anyone related to you can overact?!’ Spider replies, before getting to his feet. He suggests to Ginger that she practice on somebody else before she sets him on fire. ‘Why, Spider! I thought you were the big, tough super hero side-kick!’ Ginger replies. Spider announces that he won’t have to be anybody’s side-kick for long. ‘Watch this!’ he tells Ginger, as he starts to play an air guitar, and creates a clone, who keeps the riff going. He creates another clone who plays the drums, and another who plays air bass. ‘Man, bassists are so boring…’ Spider adds as the clone just stands there, before declaring that he has a whole air band. ‘If I just concentrate a little bit, I can keep every clone doing what he started out doing!’ Spider reveals.
‘Tres cool, mon frere’ Ginger replies, while Spider remarks that he oughta be on Star Search. ‘Crank up my Anthrax CD! I wanna see if -’ he begins, when suddenly, a voice from above exclaims ‘Oh, gross! I hate heavy metal!’ Ginger and Spider look up, confused, where they see Jamie Flores floating over them. ‘Don’t you have any Sir Mixalot?’ Jamie smiles. ‘;What are you -? What are you? I mean - what are you?’ Spider stammers.
Jamie lowers herself and explains that she is dreaming, at least, that is what she thinks she is. ‘I go to sleep, and I come out like this. Pretty cool, huh? I can fly!’ Jamie reveals. Spider waves his hand, which passes through Jamie’s dream form, ‘But how’d you get in here? I mean, are you -’ Spider asks, while Jamie tells him to stop it, as it tickles when someone touches her. ‘Which does make it kind of hard to carry things’ she adds, before explaining that she can sense things, too, like she can feel when something is wrong. ‘Well, I have to find Wonder Man!’ Jamie then reports, to which Spider tells her to forget it, as nobody knows where he is, and that he just fought with his Avenger buddies, and he was acting so freaky, so he just bailed out and came back here.
Jamie reveals that she saw something last night, and that she thinks those Armed Response guys are working with the gangs they are supposed to be fighting. ‘Gin-Gin! This is a side-kick’s dream! We gotta find Wondy we gotta tell him this - and we gotta use our powers to help uncover the truth about Armed Response!’ ‘Our powers?’ Ginger asks, before pointing a finger at her younger brother and telling him that could mean going up against armored, high-tech super-cops, and that they could be killed. ‘That’s incredibly dangerous’ she adds. They look at each other, before both smiling, ‘So let’s do it!’ they exclaim in unison.
Jamie points out that if they are going to use their powers, they are going to need super hero names. ‘I’ve already got mine… call me Dreamer!’ she announces. ‘Yeah! Yeah! That’s great! Super hero names!’ Spider declares, before scratching his head, and muttering that Spider is a totally cool name, but that it doesn’t say anything about his power. ‘They’ll think I stick to walls and shoot lame-butt webs’ he points out, before starting to rattle off some possible names: ‘Cloning…co ying…’, so his sister asks him if he wants some advice from a Hollywood veteran, and tells him to never pick a name without consulting your agent.
Hands on hips, Spider agrees that Neal the Nerd-King will have something to say. ‘Now, where’d I leave that cordless phone this time?’ he wonders. Neal Saroyan leans back on his chair in his office, ‘What an offer! Simon will love it! He’ll jump at it!’ Neal declares, but supposes that Simon will make a fool of himself, and that means a fool of him, too. ‘No, no no. I’ll have to tell him not to take it, but how do I convince him -’ Neal wonders, when suddenly, the phone rings. ‘Hello? Spider Beach? Finally, the brain-dead, pimply little cracking-voiced cretin remembers to call! Put him on!’ Neal declares, before asking Spider what is this hears about him splitting into a bunch of different - ‘A super hero? Of course I can represent another super hero! Of course you need a super-name! What’ve you got?’ Neal asks. ‘WHAT?’ he exclaims. Neal gets up and starts to walk around his office, ‘No! No! Yeah, it sounds great…but  erox is a trademark. You can’t use it generically’ Neal explains, suggesting that there has to be something similar. ‘Stat!’ he suddenly suggests. ‘That’s it!’ From now on, you’re Stat!’ Neal informs Spider. ‘What do you mean, what does it mean? Like a photo-stat… what they used to call photo copies’ Neal explains. ‘Hey, come on, I’m not that old you little -’ Neal begins, before sensing a shadow looming over him, he turns around.
‘Uh…I gotta call you back… Stat’ Neal tells Spider, as he greets his visitor: ‘I…I didn’t expect you to drop in! I mean… you must have known I had something big for you’ Neal tells Simon, who remains silent. He claims he was going to tell Simon right away, ‘But I thought you were -’ he begins. Simon tells Neal to drop it, and announces that he just came here to tell him that he won’t need an agent anymore. ‘Acting was a dream. I can’t afford dreams anymore’ Simon declares. ‘What? After what I’ve done for you -’ Neal begins, to which Simon asks ‘What have you done for me, Neal? One garbage action movie after another? Celebrations of brainless violence… with none of the sweet, sour, bitter taste of real violence? Small-souled characters. Characters even less human that me’ Simon declares through clenched teeth. Neal tells Simon that he is ripping his heart out, and points out that he got him roles he could do something with. ‘You know what they say - there are no small roles, only small actors’. Simon reminds Neal how he got him a choice part in the Avengers video game, ‘What was my dialogue? “Okay, go”!’ Wonder Man reminds Neal, who claims that mistakes were made. ‘My assistant was -’ Neal begins, to which Simon reveals that he has gotten fan mail from as far away as Hong Kong making fun of “Okay, go”.
Neal tells Simon to listen to him, and claims that he has been talking him up, and that he has made a deal - Simon’s dream deal. ‘I - I - hoosh, I may regret this, but what else can I do?’ Neal asks, hand on his head. ‘Hokay… I just got a call from Uni-Media / Cine-Faxx about a job. No test, no meeting - a job, Simon. A great job! The role of your life…’ Neal begins. And Simon listens intently as Neal reveals what that job is: ‘Macbeth!’ Meanwhile, numerous news reporters are commenting on the ongoing violence spreading throughout the city, as Armed Response operatives combat gang members and criminals while fires rage. ‘A city wracked by violence like it had never seen. Savage gang violence, turned not against each other or the forgotten poor, but against the bastions of LA’s power and wealth. And then, like avenging angels looking over this City of Angels…they came. Armed Response’.
One reporter states that the response of an angry America, fed up with fear. He introduces himself as Kent Forthward. ‘And tonight’s “LA Eye” will be turned to the group…that some call the future of American security, the next step beyond police’ he announces. Kent continues, asking the audience if they are willing to pay the price of that step, and states that they will take a hard look at that question, after a word from their sponsor. The phone number for Armed Response flashes onto the screen, and the voice-over states that it is not a matter of race or politics, while afterwards, a woman reports that new federal statistics show that the poor and non-white make up a disproportionate number of the victims of crime. The screen flashes to an elderly couple who are being interviewed, as the elderly man claims that they have nothing against anybody, and the woman declares that they only want to protect what is rightfully theirs. Another advert for Armed Response, as the voice over states that there is an army in the streets, their troops increase every day - and they have declared war on the people. ‘It isn’t just a matter of justice’ the voice-over adds, before another woman is interviewed. She declares that, as a Hispanic working mother, she not only fears for the safety of her own children in the streets, but for the children she takes care of in Beverly Hills.
A little girl is shown on screen, and she says that her generation has lost faith in the solutions of their parents, ‘Letting crime run wild isn’t cool!’ she exclaims, while a police officer explains that they do the best they can, but that the resources aren’t there. ‘We need help! We need a new solution!’ he adds, while another advert for Armed Response concludes by stating that it is a matter of survival, and that operators are standing by.
At that moment, Ginger drives down the freeway, with her brother in the passenger seat, and Jamie’s dream form in the back. ‘Okay. Dreamer. Stat. And Snap. Now…shouldn’t we have costumes?’ Jamie asks, after listing their new codenames. ‘Cool. Most totally. But how?’ Spider asks. He wonders where other superheroes get their costumes from. ‘Do they all know how to sew, or what?’ he asks. ‘Oh right. Like I can see Captain America and Thor sitting around arguing about how to stitch up a hem’ Jamie jokes, while Ginger tells them that she used to date a guy at a theatrical costume company, and she bets she could suck a discount out of him. ‘A discount’s great…if you’ve got some money to start with! And last time I looked - we had nada’ Spider remarks, frowning he reminds his sister that he told her she should have kept seeing that guy who could get her onto “Full House”. ‘That jerk couldn’t even have gotten me into his own house. Not as long as his wife was in it’. ‘Wait a minute! Jamie!’ Spider exclaims. ‘Uh-oh’ Jamie utters, before Spider points out that Jamie’s mom is a screenwriter, and that all screenwriters are rich. ‘Wellll…I don’t think so. I mean, I guess we could ask her to loan us -’ Jamie begins, before she screams, and looks worried. ‘Whoa! You’re that afraid to ask you Mom for money?’ Spider asks, telling her that he has to give her some lessons. ‘No! I’m - I’m -’ Jamie utters, before she is pulled skyward out of the convertible car.
‘Jamie!’ Spider calls out after her. ‘Jamie!’ Alex Flores shakes her daughter awake. ‘Mm…? Oh. Mom?’ Jamie asks, sitting up on her bed. Alex asks her daughter what is up with her, pointing out that she is not usually even home this early, let alone taking a nap. ‘You’re not sick, are you?’ Alex enquires. Jamie sits on the edge of the bed and rubs her head, assuring her mother that she is fine, before informing her that Spider and Ginger are coming over. Alex points out that it sounds like Jamie has been having a dream. ‘Or, since Spider was in it, a nightmare?’ she jokes. Jamie gets up and walks out of her room, ‘Mom! It’s not a dream! Not like you mean! It’s what I keep trying to tell you! I was just with them - while I was asleep!’ she snaps. ‘Whatever, whatever’ Alex replies, instructing her daughter to go wash her face, when suddenly, there is a knock at the door.
‘Yo! Jame-baby! You in there? It’s Spider!’ the boy shouts. Jamie turns to her mother and asks her if she gets it now. ‘When I dream my mind leaves my body. It can do things. We’re all different now, Mom. All of us who got blasted by Wonder Man’s ionic rays. We have powers. We’re super heroes’ Jamie declares, while Alex looks concerned. Spider and Ginger enter the Flores’s home, and Spider grins, ‘Aw-right! You are here! All in one piece too, if you know what I mean’ Spider adds, before greeting Alex and telling her that she is looking great, he then enquires if Jamie asked her about the money. “Money?” Alex quotes Spider, turning to her daughter, who sheepishly replies ‘Um, yeah, to rent… clothes’. “Clothes?” Alex asks. ‘Yeah, you know… costumes’ Jamie explains. ‘No, no, no!’ Alex exclaims, telling her daughter that she does not need a costume, that she is not a super hero, but a kid. ‘But you’re one of us too, Mom! Those pictures you made out of your head! You could confuse criminals or something with that’ Jamie points out. ‘All right! Now we’ve got to find out what powers the others have! You know, the one’s at Wondy’s building - the geek with the mowhawk, the guy with the big hair, the old bag, and the hot little babe!’
Spider grins. Alex slaps her forehead and asks ‘Am I the only sane person left on Earth?’, before agreeing that they need to talk to Argus, Aundray, Gloria and Lahoya, so she offers to go there with them, right now, but only to talk them all out of this lunacy. ‘Great! So let’s get going!’ Ginger suggests. Leading the way out of the house to her car, she suggests they hit the costume place on the way, and maybe they will get some costumes free if she tells that jerk she will go out with him again. ‘Dios mio, give me strength’ Alex mumbles.
Shortly, Ginger drives her red convertible out of the driveway, just she and Spider are in it,, while Alex and Jamie go to their car, unaware that Wonder Man is observing his companions from the bushes nearby. Spider exclaims that they should all get these totally bug-freak clashing colors and everything - like the Avengers on acid. ‘No! We’re more like the Fantastic Four, with the cosmic rays and everything! We should all get matching costumes! Surfer jams! Neon green and purple jams!’ Spider decides, changing his mind. But then he realizes that he would be steering the porcelain bus if he saw Gloria in jams. ‘How about string bikinis for Lahoya and Alex and…’ his voice trails off.
‘Alex. Once I was so close to being part of your life. To knowing who you were behind your smart-alec shield’ Simon thinks to himself, frowning. ‘Now I see you across such a gulf. Now I shut down any glimmer of tenderness I might feel for you…because I know what the tenderness might do to me’. Simon takes flight, and thinking of Ginger and Spider, recalls that he once thought having them foisted on him was the worst his life could do to him, but now he wishes he could have known them better, when he thought he was still human. Simon lands on the top of a palm tree, ‘You’d all saw I owe you for what my ions did to you. But what can I give you - except destruction?’ he wonders. ‘What can I give the city?’ Simon asks himself, looking out over the city as the lights start to turn on as the sky darkens. ‘Or humanity?’ Simon decides. He wonders what is left but pretending to be human? He has a chance to play a character doomed by his own violence, to play a tragedy he understands. ‘Let someone else play the hero’ he concludes, while Armed Response operatives move onto the street nearby.
Armed Response operatives are now patrolling a ransacked commercial area, and stand outside houses where a woman pulls her children alongside her. They are all around. And, at the same time, Lotus Newmark lies naked on a massage table, masseurs tending to her, while she speaks over a cordless phone: ‘The pressure is on. The Chief of Police has already backed off his threat to ban Armed Response pending investigation’ she announces. ‘A citizens’ group…a carefully orchestrated citizens’ group, I should say…has petitioned the Mayor to have Armed Response deputized’. She adds that the City Council will vote tomorrow on a plan to consider Armed Response for special city security jobs - and why shouldn’t they?
As most members of the Council are already subscribers to Armed Response’s services. ‘We have this city too afraid not to use Armed Response. We, Andrew, have LA by some very short hairs…and we won’t let go until the city government is just as much under my control as the crime world…and we’re ready to move on to our ultimate goal’.
Lotus then asks about Wonder Man, and frowns at Andrew’s response. ‘He’s thinking about it?’ she snarls. ‘This is everything he’s ever said he wanted! What is he thinking about?’ Lotus asks, adding that for his sake, he had better take this Macbeth job, because they have some employees here, who want to see that his finish is even bloodier than the one Shakespeare wrote for his Scottish King!’
And nearby, Splice examines one of his blades and remarks that he hopes Wonder Man skips that job, he really does. Rampage tells him to take it easy, pointing out that even if they don’t get their Wonder Man rematch, in this town, there are bound to be other heroes to test themselves against! Indeed, inside the apartment of Gloria Angel, Ginger sits on the sofa with Gloria, while Alex sits across from them on a chair. Aspiring filmmaker Argus LaVecchio leans against the wall, as dancer Aundrey Phelps sits on the arm of Gloria’s sofa, and Jamie and Spider stand with Lahoya Scripps, who exclaims ‘A super hero! Me! Little Lahoya Scripps from Phoenix - a real super hero!’ Spider smiles and boasts that they will be a team and blow those dorky New Warriors outta the water. ‘That’s almost better than being a Laker-Girl!’ Lahoya adds, while Aundrey points out that they have everything a super team needs - and referring to himself adds that they even have their token black guy.
‘Dear, dear, dear. I never thought of myself as a hero. Except when I played opposite Fred MacMurray in that Forest Ranger picture’ the elderly Gloria tells everyone, adding that she was a bit younger then. ‘Dear Lord…’ Alex mutters. Gloria asks what sort of super name would be right for someone who can move through time? “Timedrifter?” she suggests, but Jamie asks ‘What kind of stupid name is that?’ Gloria suggests something reminiscent of Hollywood, and offers “Dream-Maker”, but Jamie tells her that it is too close to her name, “Dreamer”. “Golden Ager”?’ Gloria offers, before deciding that it sounds too old for her. “Screen Queen” she then contemplates, but Aundrey remarks that it sounds like some of his old flames. Lahoya wonders what will be good for her, announcing that she has her strength and agility, so she will be “Stair-Master”. ‘That’s a name for a super heroine?’ Ginger frowns. ‘Well, at least when people hear it they’ll know I’ve got a great butt!’ Lahoya boasts. ‘True, and once they’ve figured that out…who’ll even notice if you’ve got a brain?’ Ginger grins.
Gloria announces that she will be Glamour Girl, informing everyone that she originally came to Hollywood as a beauty pageant winner, and so “Glamour Girl” is who she shall be. ‘You haven’t reminded me of that for at least two weeks!’ Aundrey remarks. ‘So, what am I, Writer-Girl?’ Alex asks. ‘Jeez, Mom. Do something with your…your mental images’ Jamie suggests to her mother. ‘How about the Vision?’ Alex suggests. ‘Taken. Try movie words’ Spider tells her. ‘Like what? Pay Off? Set-Piece? Take? Gross? Turn-Around? Back-End? Paradigm?’ Alex rattles off. ‘Paradigm! I like it! How do you spell it?’ Spider asks.
‘This is insane!’ Alex shouts. She gets to her feet and moves to the door, announcing that she came here to talk about how they can cure themselves of these ionic problems, and see if Simon was here, so they could force him to deal with this. ‘But all you’re doing is fantasizing!’ Argus agrees, and points out ‘So what if we have “powers”? What can we do?’ he asks, while Aundrey asks if this city needs another ionic super hero, let alone eight of them.
Jamie tells everyone that they have to find the truth behind Armed Response, they have to help. ‘No! This isn’t a game, Jamie! And I won’t play any -’ Alex angrily tells her daughter, when suddenly, they turn. ‘Oh’ Alex utters as Wonder Man, wearing a long coat walks past them in the corridor outside Gloria’s apartment. ‘It’s about time you got here, Simon! You have to talk some sense into these people’ Alex declares.
“About time”, Alex? No. to late’ Simon replies, casually look at her. Simon announces that he is an immortal, an energy-being and a dead man. ‘It was fun playing human. My greatest role. But it’s too late to tell you what to do. I’ve got no business messing with your very short - but very real - lives’. ‘Wondy! What are you pulling here?’ Spider asks as he and the others go into the corridor. Simon tells his companions not to worry, that he won’t leave them with nothing. ‘Here. A genuine Hollywood souvenir’ he announces, tossing his Wonder Man costume at Alex. ‘Someday it’ll be collectible’ Simon calls out as he takes flight. ‘Simon?’ Alex calls after him. Gloria, Ginger and the others all look shocked and stare at the costume or the sky as Alex utters ‘Wonder Man?’


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Hitmaker (first story)
first story:
A man stands on top of a building and grins. He wears an open red jacket and matching red pants. A golden “H” is stuck to his chest and he has golden face paint over his eyes He decides that it is a whole new game, as he played the game their way and lost - played it for years and he lost. But now it is different - now he knows who writes the rules, now he knows how the game is stacked. ‘We play it my way now. Right now’.
On the street below, a man in a business suit checks his watch, and remarks that he has had so many house calls today, that he is running late. He hopes old Mrs Watkins has not had a relapse, when suddenly, ‘What the -?’ he calls out as he is grabbed from behind and pulled into an alley. Three thugs stand over him, ‘Okay, old fool! We know you’ve got drugs in the case. Hand them over - or consider yourself skragged!’ one of them warns the doctor. Suddenly, though, ‘Consider yourselves skragged - punks!’ the man in the red from the roof declares as he drops down from above, kicking a knife out of one of the thugs’ hands. ‘It’s Hitmaker! Get him!’ one of the punks exclaims, while Hitmaker kicks the other thug, causing him to drop his weapon. The remaining punk lunges for Hitmaker, ‘What the -? His reflexes! Like lightning!’ he exclaims as Hitmaker dodges his attack.
‘There’s one difference between me and lightning, punk! Namely - I strike twice!’ Hitmaker exclaims as he punches the thug in the face. The other two have gathered themselves, ‘Stop him! There’s only one of him!’ one of them calls out. ‘It sure doesn’t seem like it!’ the other points out as both of them are kicked at the same time when Hitmaker does the splits in the air. ‘One crime fighter is worth any dozen of you punks!’ Htimaker declares. ‘And if I’ve gotta prove it to you…’ he begins, while one of the thugs holds a knife to him, when suddenly, ‘Holt it, hold it. Man, I can’t do this caca no more’ Hitmaker declares. He stands up on the movie set, as the director walks over to him, ‘What are you saying? It was going great!’ he tells him. The film crew are busy going about their business, while Hitmaker addresses the director as Gee and tells him that nobody is going to buy this, pointing out that he has his politically correct gang, with one guy from every ethnic group - but that it isn’t like this on the street.
One of the actors portraying the thugs asks if they get paid extra if Hitmaker makes them work late, while Hitmaker points out that these guys are just hanging in the alley, begging the cops to question them. ‘And standing over the money-man with their blades out, talking to him? Not holding him? Saying “Skrag”?’ Hitmaker asks, pointing to one of the thugs, asking the director who wears Mohawks any more except “city college retro-70’s vinyl-collecting Sid-’n’-Nancy poof boys?”. ‘And that star on his face? Oh, man! Nobody who knows the streets is going to believe I’m real’ Hitmaker mutters. The director reminds Hitmaker that he didn’t write this script, that the studio publicity department did, as they want Hitmaker to be the industry-approved “Hollywood super hero”. He adds that they want to undo the damage that nut-case Wonder Man has done to the entertainment industry’s reputation. ‘They think this is how to do it’ he explains. ‘You want to show Wonder Man up? I’m telling you, Budrick, on the streets there’s only one way to do that. I’ve got to kick Wonder Man’s...tuchas’ Hitmaker declares, smirking.
Elsewhere, Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man frowns as he flies through the city, and quotes “I will hold you accountable for your misdeeds”. He decides that he is getting sick of that message, whoever is sending it to him makes sure he wants to get it though, sending it to the Avengers West Coast, his old apartment, his agent and every producer he has worked for. ‘Well, if he wants to “bring me to justice”, now’s his chance. I’m right where he told me to be. If this is another ploy of the Grim Reaper or Blackheart, I’d better be…wait a minute. Do I hear…’ Simon thinks to himself, looking up, he sees a copter with a camera crew, but no station ID. ‘Who is this?’ Simon wonders, noticing another mobile camera in a van down on the street below, and another crew right across the street. ‘Somebody wants a record of whatever’s about to happen’ Simon realizes.
‘I don’t like it. I’ve gotta be -’ Simon starts to think when suddenly, he is kicked in the face. He falls to the roof, and looks up, to see Hitmaker standing over him. ‘Welcome to “The Wonderful World of Justice!” I’m your host, Hitmaker…and for the next several minutes you’ll be treated to a cavalcade of the most exciting punches and kicks in Hollywood history’ he boasts. ‘Great. A freakin’ loon’ Simon mutters, before telling Hitmaker that he has had a week of pure Hades, and is already late for a meeting with a beast. ‘So if you don’t object…I’m gonna cancel this -’ but as Simon lunches forward, Hitmaker leaps over him. ‘Blast it’ Simon mutters. ‘Sorry to cut off your tough-guy dialogue, Wondy. I’m sure it would have been so sharp’ Hitmaker mocks, as he then kicks Simon in the back, forcing the hero to fall onto the building beneath this.
‘That’s right. Keep your best side to the camera’ Hitmaker calls out as the chopper hovers overhead. ‘You’re not gonna have a best side when I’m through with you, pretty boy. You’re not even gonna have any outsides!’ Wonder Man snarls. Hitmaker holds his hands up and tells Wonder Man not to make this personal. ‘It’s just the game, you know. You had your day, now I got -’ he begins, before Wonder Man tears the upper part of the taller building, causing Hitmaker to fall down to his level. ‘What you got, stupid, is -’ Wonder Man begins, before stopping in his tracks. ‘What…in the…’ he begins, while a camera man zooms in close and calls out to Hitmaker, encouraging him to get up. ‘My public calls!’ Hitmaker declares as he kicks Wonder Man in the face and flips himself up. ‘And you know as well as me that we gotta play to the public!’ Hitmaker exclaims as Wonder Man falls off the edge of the building. Hey, nice fall. Thanks for the visuals’ Hitmaker calls out.
But Wonder Man gathers himself mid-fall, ‘You want to play games, kid? Play this!’ Simon shouts as he flies upwards, and strikes Hitmaker, knocking him aside. ‘Yes! This is the Wonder Man America wants to see!’ Hitmaker declares. Wonder Man knows that Hitmaker is trying to work him up, that his punches don’t scare him much, as long as they’re into his torso where his clothes are. Simon moves forward, deciding that it is time he tried leading Hitmaker with a decoy punch. ‘Your age is showing, Wondy!’ Hitmaker calls out as he starts to duck Wonder Man’s punch, unaware that it was just a trick, as Wonder Man grabs him by his jacket, tearing it off, revealing large metal shoulder pads, one with a “H” and one with an “M” on them, as well as body armor on his sides and arms. ‘Oh, man! I should’ve figured on this!’ Hitmaker realizes, while Wonder Man recognizes the armor as Clarke technology - Rampage technology.
‘All right, pretty boy, now - I want answers!’ Wonder Man shouts, shoving at Hitmaker, when suddenly, a grenade is thrown from the rooftop across the street, it strikes this rooftop, blowing Wonder Man and Hitmaker into the air. ‘If this is part of your blasted game -’ Wonder Man begins after gathering himself. ‘Got him!’ someone on the other rooftop shouts, several men are standing there with weapons. ‘No. They don’t look like they came to play’ Hitmaker replies. ‘I’ve got to - what?’ Wonder Man calls out when he crouches beside the wounded Hitmaker, and security guards of some sort enter the rooftop. ‘Let the young man go, Wonder Man! I know this gun can’t stop you, but if you have any decency left…’ one of them begins. ‘Any decency left?’ Wonder Man replies, annoyed. ‘If you had any decency left you’d be going after those gangbangers instead of playing to the cameras!’ Wonder Man tells the guards.
Hitmaker’s pants were destroyed in the blast, revealing the rest of the armor on his body as Wonder Man picks him up and takes flight, announcing that he is taking this kid to the hospital. ‘And you can shoot us both if you don’t like it!’ he calls back, while the camera crews keep rolling. Racing through the skies, Simon thinks that something weird is going on here, that it was all too controlled, except for the gang-guys with the rocket-launcher, which seemed to catch everybody off guard. ‘But why would the cops - wait a minute. Those weren’t cops. They were hired security guards! From the same company that most of the big movie studios hire! What is this?’ Simon asks himself.
Soon, in a hospital waiting room, footage of the battle between Wonder Man and Hitmaker is shown. The voice-over is from Megan McCambridge, a reporter, who states that Hitmaker, the young multi-cultural hero who tried to protect their city from the madness of Wonder Man, learnt too late that great courage and great compassion do not always overcome great power. The footage shows Wonder Man flying at Hitmaker, followed by the explosion, although Megan states that the cause of the explosion is still uncertain, but that Police say the nature of Wonder Man’s ionic power is still frighteningly unknown. The footage shows Wonder Man holding Hitmaker in his arms, and the “Police” arriving. ‘If you have any decency left -’ one of them calls out, while Megan asks what would Wonder Man have done with the injured young hero who was helpless in his grasp? She points out that it is lucky they will never know, thanks to the gutsy law enforcement officers who arrived to plead with Williams for the young man’s life. ‘Indeed, they found a spark of decency, even in Wonder Man’s savage breast. And he brought his broken victim to a hospital’ Megan concludes her report.
‘Now that is one perspicacious bit of editing! They've even got me sold on this “Savage Wonder Man” spin!’ exclaims Hank McCoy a.k.a. the Beast, one of Wonder Man’s dear friends, and a member of the X-Men. Wonder Man straddles a chair nearby and tells Hank that there has to be some Hollywood pros involved in this. ‘But what are they trying to do?’ he wonders. ‘Launch a line of Hitmaker action figures?’ Hank jokes. ‘Why target me?’ Simon wonders, admitting that he isn’t the nice guy he used to be, which scares a lot of people, but that he has had to keep himself angry to juice up his powers, and now Blackheart is making him do thinks he doesn't like. ‘But this “madness” garbage…’ his voice trails off, as he gets up and starts to leave the waiting area. ‘Whoa, Wondy. Whither go we?’ the Beast calls out. Simon replies that he has had enough of waiting in hospitals lately, and calls out to a nurse, informing her that he wants to see the guy he brought in - Orlando Sinclair.
‘I’ve said it before. He can’t see anyone’ the nurse replies. ‘Trouble here, Penny?’ another hospital staff member asks as he and another approach Wonder Man. ‘None if you let me talk to him’ Wonder Man declares, asking if Hitmaker is still unconscious. The nurse, Penny, replies that he isn’t, ‘No thanks to you’ she adds, revealing that he suffered only a minor concussion. ‘Ah, no wonder my cerulean hackles rose!’ the Beast exclaims as he bounds into the reception area, where the nurse is telling Wonder Man that Mr Sinclair still cannot see any visitors. ‘Listen, this kid jumped me. You tell him if - huh?’ Wonder Man remarks as the Beast tells Wonder Man that it looks like his pal Sinclair is getting some visitors who look like they’d be on intimate terms with a rocket launcher. ‘Why don’t you stop them if you’re so worried about this kid’ Wonder Man tells the hospital staff. ‘Oh, right. We look where you’re pointing and you slip past us. You really expect us to fall for that old trick?’ one of them replies.
‘Now I know why the American health system is going to the dogs’ Simon mutters as he runs past the hospital staff, ‘Hey!’ one of them calls out. ‘Ah, Simon, you’re so impetuous! I’m in love again!’ the Beast remarks, while joining Wonder Man in attacking the thugs who have entered the hospital. ‘Hold it, bud. What’s that you’ve got under your coat?’ Wonder Man asks one of them, punching him, he drops the weapon. ‘A sawed-off shotgun! And all I brought were flowers! I feel so cheap!’ the Beast jokes. Wonder Man asks the thug what he was planning to do with that, to which the thug claims that he is seeing a friend, that is all. ‘What am I supposed to do with my GAT? Leave it at the information booth?’ he asks, pointing out that it is a dangerous world out there. ‘I could drag you to the cops right now, friend’ Wonder Man threatens the gangbanger, who asks ‘What’s the point? Okay, so I violate LA Municipal Code 458267.48, bringing a concealed firearm into a public building’. He remarks that he will be out on bail in two hours and then three months from now will go to court and draw a five hundred dollar fine. ‘Why bother?’ Wonder Man throws the thug towards the Beast, ‘Wise guys. I hate wise guys’ he declares, asking the Beast to hold them and call the cops, as he has a man to see. ‘And no about a horse, I take it?’ the Beast jokes.
‘Sinclair! Get up!’ Wonder Man shouts as he barges into the ward where Hitmaker lies in bed. ‘I can’t’ Hitmaker replies, the yellow face paint still covering the area around his eyes. ‘I want to talk to you, blast it! Eye to eye! So get up!’ Wonder Man declares. Hitmaker smiles and replies that he would love to talk to him, eye-to-red-eye, but that he simply can’t. ‘You don’t fool me, Sinclair. They told me all you got was a concus- what?’ Wonder Man exclaims, surprised as he pulls Hitmaker from the bed, but when he tries to set him down, the young man simply falls to the ground, his legs spread apart, Hitmaker just grins,’ I wish you could see the look on your face, Wondy. Must be funny for a big hero like you, realizing you nearly got your butt kicked… by a quadraplegic!’
Two of the hospital staff rush into the room, ‘Get away from him! Throwing a man like that to the floor! You’re as dangerous as they say!’ one of them calls out. ‘But…wait a minute! This kid…’ Simon’s voice trails off, and suddenly, there is a loud BAM! ‘Hank!’ Simon exclaims, concerned. He races out into the corridor, where someone is running away with a weapon. The Beast has fallen onto the gangbangers. ‘Imagine my chagrin!’ the Beast declares, he explains to Wonder Man that the hospital staff did not want to trifle with mere gangbangers, when they had a a chance to pick up a little media time by tussling with Wonder Man. ‘Oh, how I love LA’ the Beast jokes, adding that he bagged as many as he could, but not all, as Simon saw. ‘So follow them!’ Simon exclaims. ‘With joy and rapture’ the Beast replies as he bounds off after the shooter. Wonder Man tells the Beast to meet him on the Paramount Gate in an hour, or whenever he has their location. ‘Meanwhile, I’m going to get some -’ Simon begins, before a strong punch strikes his face.
Wonder Man falls to the ground, and Hitmaker, wearing his armor, stands over him. ‘Okay, Wondy. You said get up? S I’m up. And I ain’t no cripple anymore. Still want to have that talk?’ he asks. While a film crew records through the window in the building opposite, Simon tells Hitmaker that he doesn’t care what his body is like under that power-suit. He notices the camera crew, and it occurs to Simon that this is just what Hitmker wants - ‘Film of me attacking you in your hospital room - to prove I’m crazy. You can play that game with somebody else’ Simon declares. Hitmaker smirks and tells Wonder Man to have it his way, as he can use this on the evening news, too - footage of Wonder Man walking away from the new champion of Hollywood.
Hitmaker stands on the edge of the window, he thanks the hospital staff for their kind care, adding that the Tylenol was lovely and the female neurologist was very cute. ‘I’ll recommend your establishment to all my friends with head injuries’ he remarks. ‘Just remember my name - Hitmaker - the true hero for the ‘90s!’ he boasts as he leaps from the hospital window, all the way across to the window of the building facing the hospital. ‘How was that?’ he asks the camera man. ‘Great! Just great!’ he exclaims. Perched on the window edge, Hitmaker instructs the crew to make sure thy cut the part where he sucker punches Wonder Man. ‘Then I’ll add some new lines for -’ he begins, before a hand reaches down from above and pulls Hitmaker back out the window, slamming him to the ground below.
‘You know something, kid? You made me mad!’ Wonder Man tells Hitmaker, punching him in the face once more. ‘And in case the news hasn’t hit Entertainment Tonight yet - I should point that when I get mad - I get strong!’ Wonder Man declares, slamming his opponent again and again, thrusting him back through the air. Wonder Man leans over Hitmaker, one hand around his throat, demanding that he talk. ‘There’s movie studio involvement here! Why?’ Simon enquires. ‘Figure it out, gee. You been making a rep as a psycho lately - the way you tore into that gangsta and fought the Avengers and took down a freeway’ he points out. Hitmaker smiles as he adds, ‘At the same time, this Macbeth buzz has been getting you more spotlight as an actor. The anti-violence bunch and this make-nice-movies-for-the-kiddies groups…have been stirring some hit against the entertainment bins for encouraging this locotoe “hero”’ Hitmaker announces.
Hitmaker reveals that he saw an opening and promised himself once that if he ever saw an opening, he was taking t - because that’s how the game is played. He informs Simon that he dropped in on a studio, literally, where he couldn’t even get a pass to get through the gate a week before. He made a nice impression on an executive whose assistant never returned his calls before. The executive called some rival studio honchitos together, and he told them he was the new super hero Hollywood was looking for - young, cool, “multi-ethnic” and “street”. And, most important, he was willing to do watever the studios paid him for.
Simon is furious, ‘You cal that a “hero”? You think heroes sell themselves for a salary?’ he snaps. ‘If you’re trying to send the right image to kids - you’re doing it the wrong way’ he adds. Hitmaker smirks, and replies that he has been hearing “right way” and “wrong way” his entire life from rich old white guys like Simon. ‘I tried to do it. I played the game they taught me in school. And what did it get me? Nothing but a bullet in my spine!’ Hitmaker shouts, lurching upwards, he manages to punch Wonder Man off of him, and get onto his feet. ‘You think the studios will want to hire you after this gang business comes out?’ Wonder Man asks, as Hitmaker turns his back to him. ‘Being attacked by a gang? What could look better for a new hero?’ Hitmaker replies. Wonder Man gets to his feet and tells his foe that it depends on why they are out to get him. ‘What if it has something to do with that armor of yours?’ he enquires, adding ‘And believe me - I know some things about super-powered armor’. Hitmaker frowns and turns back to Wonder Man, asking him what he knows. ‘You think I’d tell you?’ Wonder Man retorts. ‘You’re not as stupid as I’ve heard’ Hitmaker remarks.
Wonder Man replies that stupidity can be a useful camouflage. He tells Hitmaker that they can bust that gang and get off the hook, or he can do some research on him. ‘Why would you want to help me?’ Hitmaker enquires. ‘Because you’re going to help. That’s how my game is played’ Wonder Man declares. Hitmaker just frowns at him, before smirking and replying ‘You’re on’. Suddenly, the two race off, with one of the film crew calling out to Hitmaker, asking how he is supposed to get this on film?
Flying through the air, Wonder Man is ahead of Hitmaker, who tells him to slow down. ‘Think you’re gonna show me up? I’ll put your pink butt in the ground, man!’ he calls out. ‘Dream on, kid’ Wonder Man replies as he lands outside of Paramount Gate. ‘I mean it, man! I’m taking you down!’ Hitmaker boasts, not seeing the Beast perched on the roof of Paramount Pictures. Simon reminds himself that this is where he hold Hank to be, and hopes that he doesn’t take too long. ‘If I have to listen to much more tough-guy banter I’ll go-’ he begins, before the Beast leaps through the air, ‘Put this in the ground, dear boy!’ he tells Hitmaker, striking him. ‘Attack one Avenger and you -’ the Beast begins, as Hitmaker dodges his second attack. ‘Hm, quick, aren’t we?’ the Beast remarks. ‘You don’t know how quick!’ Hitmaker boasts.
‘Well, I may nopt be an Avenger anymore, but I can still -’ Hank begins, moving in for another punch, while Wonder Man calls out to his friend, informing him that Hitmaker is on their side. ‘Lord help us’ Simon adds quietly, before asking Hank if he tracked their gang-buddies. ‘All the way to their wee hidey-hole on 52nd near Normandie’ Hank reports, while Hitmaker takes to the air, ‘That’s Tusant Pratt’s crib! Must behwere they’re cooking the new ‘ware! Let’s move!’ he calls out. Wonder Man flies after hi, with the Beast leaping after him, ‘You know, young man…speaking as one who’s adopted phony speech patterns as a defense mechanism himself…I’d say you aren’t nearly as street as you sound’ the Beast remarks. ‘Yeah? Maybe that’s because I spent my whole life trying not to be street - until the street caught up with me, and said it wouldn’t let me go!’ Hitmaker reveals as he begins his origin story:
flashback images, narrated by Hitmaker:
Hitmaker reveals that he was a good kid, a team player, school spirit, trying to belong. Of course, it is hard to know where you belong when your Dad is black and your Mom is Mexican - and your country is white. Orlando explains that his brother, Mariano decided he was going to belong to a gang, that it gave him the identity he wanted - and it gave him cash to get out of the “hood”. The gang wanted Orlando, too, they knew he could fight, that he had moves, he was tough. So, Orlando tried to be an actor, a singer, a danger - a “Hitmaker”. But he couldn’t afford the right lessons, or the right connections. Not to mention, security guards didn’t like pushy dark-skinned kids, they probably figured he was trying to steal tapes for his ghetto blaster. But, he wanted to belong to something bigger, so he decided to be American and play the official American game. Only America didn’t follow the rules - he was a good student, but there was no money for scholarships, a good worker, but there were no jobs.
Meanwhile, Orlando’s brother, Mariano, was playing his game as hard as he could - stirred up a little trouble with a rival gang. They came ooking for him, but he wasn’t in the “Hood” no more - just bought himself a house in Lincoln Park for cash down. However, Orlando was in the “hood”, waiting for a bus to take him to an audition because he couldn’t afford a car - because he played the game the “right way”. So, the gang took him for a substitute - that’s how their game is played, and he was beaten, badly. Mariano told Orlando that he was sorry he was a cripple on a ccount of him, but that he had a way to make it up to him - and said his gang still wanted him. Orlando had a heart, brains and a clean record. The gang had access to equipment that would not only let him use his arms and legs again, but make him super human. Mariano talked to the other gang members into giving it to him - as long as he was grateful, as long as he worked for them - as a hit-man.
So the gang sent him off to whack the guys who tried to whack him - what they didn’t figure on was that the shooting had taught him - don’t chain yourself with loyalties or belief in right or wrong. Just play your game. So he took the suit and headed straight to movie land.
Present:
‘So it’s your brother’s gang that’s after you? Trying to take their suit back?’ the Beast asks. ‘They’re sending me a message. Suits like this probably don’t come cheap’ Hitmaker responds. Wonder Man asks him if he doesn’t know where he got it. Hitmaker reveals that they said a couple of homeboys nobody had seen before dropped off the equipment. ‘Which means -’ Wonder Man begins, when suddenly, ‘Machine guns!’ he shouts as they arrive at the “crib”, and weapons are fired at them. The Beast remarks that it looks like they found the right house - unless this is a typical “hello” in this neighborhood. ‘Get down, Hank!’ Wonder Man shouts, flying to the Beast, he knocks his friend to safety, while breaking a tree in half. ‘They land on the ground, ‘I was about to say “there isn’t time”. I always underestimate those reflexes of yours’ the Beast smiles at Simon, who asks ‘Where’s Hitmaker?’
The Beast reports that the impetuous youth has rushed into the house. Indeed, inside, Hitmaker is fighting the gang members. ‘Thought you could control me just because you gave me this suit, huh? You’re gonna leanr that little Orlando’s not the -’ Hitmaker calls out, when suddenly, a voice calls out ‘Put them down, Orlando’. ‘No!’ Hitmaker exclaims, turning around, he sees his brother, Mariano, aiming a gun at him. ‘You ripped us off, brother. Now I got to do what I got to do’ Mariano announces. Suddenly, ‘Drop the guns!’ Wonder Man booms as he and the Beast smash through the wall of the house. ‘ere. Let me give you a hand’ the Beast declares as he removes a gun from one of the gang members. ‘You, stop!’ Wonder Man calls out to Mariano, who has started to run away. Hitmaker grabs Wonder Man and tells him to keep his hands off that one.
But the Beast has pursued Mariano, ‘Who, lad. It’s dangerous to -’ the Beast begins as he leaps towards Mariano, when suddenly, a large chunk of wall strikes Hank in the back, and he falls to the ground. Wonder Man goes over to his friend while in the gaping hole in the wall, two men in red and yellow armor appear. ‘I was right! The two “Recession Raiders” - who had the brains to run out on Rampage when you were getting over on him’ Simon tells Hank. ‘I have the worst luck with flying chimneys’ Hank jokes, rubbing his head. ‘You had Rampage’s suits - but there’s no way you could adapt the technology into what Hitmaker’s got! You were just a couple of street people!’ Somebody’s got to be helping you!’ Wonder Man declares.
One of the Recession Raiders announces that there is somebody, all right - somebody who is going to make LA’s gangs scarier than their worse nightmare. ‘But right now -’ he declares, as they take flight after Mariano. ‘I ain’t letting you out of this!’ Hitmaker calls out to his brother as he follows him, too. ‘Get me outta here!’ Mariano pleads. ‘Sorry, homey…but we got strategy to talk!’ one of the Raiders remarks, punching Hitmaker backwards, the other Raider grabs Mariano and they take flight, smashing their way through a wall. ‘Not as long as -’ Wonder Man declares, flying after them - until Hitmaker grabs him by the ankle, ‘Uh-uh, Wondy’ Hitmaker calls out slamming Wonder Man into the ground.
Wonder Man gets up and rubs his head, ‘What are you doing?’ he asks Hitmaker. ‘I could’ve nailed those guys with a quick enough jump - but now, with those rockets of theirs, there’s no way to catch them!’ Simon explains. Hitmaker grits his teeth and tells Wonder Man that he wants them caught, too, but that Mariano is his brother, and nobody handles his brother but him. ‘Especially with the media watching’ he grins, and points to the cameras and reports that have gathered. ‘Hitmaker -’ a reporter calls out. ‘Wonder Man -’ another begins, while a third asks if they are allies. ‘- have a fight -’ someone begins. ‘-anybody hurt -’ another asks. ‘-any bodies-’ someone enquires, while another asks for an exclusive interview, and someone even mentions TV movie rights. ‘What, you think I want my whole family story on the evening news? We did our media stunt. We broke up a gang-house. We’ll go after your flying guys later…and make sure CNN knows where the fight’s going to be!’ Hitmaker exclaims.
Wonder Man and the Beast look on, while cameras flash and microphones are shoved in their faces. ‘All right. But remember…you’re playing my game now’ Simon tells Htimaker. ‘I know. I know. Just follow my lead’ Hitmaker replies. He grabs Simon by his wrist and raises their hands into the air, ‘People of Los Angeles…Hitmaker the Hollywood Hero of the ‘90s would like to announce that he’s cleaned up another den of crime…but only with the help of the noblest, bravest, and least savage hero of them all…Wonder Man!’ he calls out. ‘Don’t forget to mention I’m doing Macbeth’ Wonder Man smiles, waving at the cameras. ‘Oh, yes/ How I do love LA’ the Beast mutters.


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
My Fair Superhero  - part 1
The future:
A future version of Wonder Man with long white hair gives a homeless man some money for food and declines an invite to join him since he no longer needs to eat. He ignores the man’s question if he needs company. He flies up to the top of a building in the shadow of a huge ‘new New York’ which has been built on top of the old city. He thinks of his long gone friends and enemies and how he no longer believes in many things he used to. Simon thinks back to the last thing he truly believed in -  ‘her’.
The present:
Wonder Man is having lunch with his ex-agent Neal and dealing with fans (a pair of girls who slip him their number). They’re approached by another agent Ken Flevin who asks after Neal’s career in documentaries (which he is trying to convince Simon to be in as his next subject). Ken is impressed to meet a real life superhero which Simon nervously deflects explaining Captain America is a superhero, he is just a guy with powers.
Neal asks after Simons’ relationship with the Scarlet Witch to which Simon can only say it went badly… she went crazy. Neal points out that the daughter of Magneto whose first team was the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was always going to go bad as she has ‘evil’ hardwired into her, she was bad to the bone. Wonder Man reminds Neal that he too used to be a villain. Neal confronts Wonder Man saying that is why he’s so weirded out when people call him a superhero because Simon doesn’t really think he’s worthy of it.
They discuss it a little more and Simon explains that he has always worked hard on being a better hero and anyone can turn their lives around from being ‘born in the pits of hell and still wind up on the side of angels’, provided that people believe in them. That is what his ‘second chances’ charity is all about, Neal thinks Simon obviously has good intentions but that only goes so far. Simon disagrees and thinks that the human ability for change is unlimited and no one is beyond redemption.
Just at that moment there is an altercation in the street between a trenchcoated woman and the valet driving Neal’s car where she uses a Kama to destroy the engine block. Wonder Man intervenes to which she responds by wrapping a chained weapon around his neck. Simon explains that he doesn’t need to breathe so cannot be harmed to which she responds by using her superstrength to throw him into the side of the car. Simon  turns fully ionic and informs her that they’re done.
The woman goes into a berserker rage and launches at him with glowing pink energy on her kama. It is loaded with ‘Anionic’ energy and so manages to clash across Wonder Man’s chest. He responds with a ‘good punch in the face’. She drops into the splits and swings her Kama at Simon’s crotch, but he catches it only to end up with the second blade sinking into his shoulder. She leaps over him and slices it across his back and knocking him down.
She leaps over him again and through the window of the restaurant he had just been eating in. She seeks out Ken Flevin whom she informs that he is about to die, the only reason she gives when asked is ‘because’ but reveals her name to be ‘Ladykiller’.
Simon is back with her now and manages to tie her up with her chain. He keeps tightening it until eventually she cannot move and then he is able to knock her out with one last punch. Whilst she is out Ken Flevin starts laying in some kicks onto her unconscious body until Simon lifts him clear.
Neal decides that she is ‘perfect’. He suggests that Simon must follow through on his convictions and traps him by asking if she is beyond redemption calling back to Simon’s earlier words. He suggests a title of ‘my fair superhero’, a modern day Pygmalion. Simon refuses at first but then Neal asks what he would have done if it was the Scarlet Witch and whether he thought she didn’t deserve a second chance.
In an apartment somewhere Ladykiller wakes up to Simon standing over her and launches to attack. She is floored with a large electrical shock, and he informs her that if she is going to act like an animal she will be treated like one. The shock collar whilst regrettable will redirect her aggressive behaviours. He gives her the ultimatum of joining with him in the experiment or going to prison. Simon introduces her to two people who will be helping: Henry McCoy AKA Beast and Carol Danvers AKA Ms Marvel who are sitting casually in an arm chair. Ladykiller launches at him again and receives a shock. Sweet girl, Beast opines. By all means, Simon, let the healing begin.