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[Assistant]
untitled
Amiko is screaming as she and Logan ride a rollercoaster. Afterwards, she tells him it was fun and asks her if she’s hungry. He buys her some candy floss and as they pass a game stall, he asks if she wants a teddy bear. She says she does and he hands the man behind the counter some money. The man tells him to hurry and Logan throws a knife at the target behind the counter. It hits the target but misses the center. He tries again and completely misses the target. He tries again and misses and Amiko tells him it’s okay.
Logan looks disheartened and the stall owner briefly commiserates with him before seeing who else wants a go. Amiko puts her hand on his arm and suggests they should leave. He angrily yells at her causing her to scream and run away. He chases after her until they have left the carnival and reach a beach. Amiko runs into the water before Logan can get to her. He yells for her to watch out as a shark appears and attacks her. She sinks beneath the waves as the water turns red.
Logan is now lying face down in the red water. He picks himself up and realizes it was all a dream. He is shirtless and his torso is bandaged up. He looks up to see a woman walking towards him. It’s the waitress from the previous night. He asks if the kid is alright and she tells him he’s fine for now. When h asks how he got back in the water, she says she put him there because the salt heals. Logan crawls over to a nearby rock and says he had a strange dream. She asks him to tell her about it and so he says it was about his foster daughter, Amiko. It’s all hazy, though, and he can’t tell dream from reality lately. He sits on the rock in silence for a few seconds and then asks her if he’s dying. She confirms he is and he says she knows if the island or the dream is real. She replies that all of life is a dream. Logan picks up some sand and lets it pass through his fingers. He says that this is real, he knows that. She tells him that it’s real then.
He unsheathes his claws and tells her he isn’t afraid to die but he won’t do it in this place. She asks him if there is anything he would miss here and he tells her it would only be her.
She asks him to take her away with him, to which he points out it’s an island and asks how he would do it. She tells him that no man is an island. After a few moments, Logan surmises that he has to kill the thing in the jungle and she tells him that one of them must die. Logan asks which one but, when he looks around, the waitress has vanished.
Later on, Logan walks through the jungle and comes across a small lake. He sees some books and a basket of fruit on the lakeside. As he picks up one of the books, the waitress yells to him from the water. She asks if he has read the book but he says it doesn’t have a title. Swimming around, she says he isn’t looking hard enough. She invites him into the water but he tells her he doesn’t have a swimsuit. She innocently asks him what a swimsuit is, prompting him to dive in with his jeans still on. He dives under the water but he cannot see her. He begins to get worried but she suddenly swims to him. She is now wearing a strange dress and she swims away, with Logan following her.
They break the surface and Logan tells her the pond is rejuvenating like a warm bath. He swims up to her and says maybe it’s the closeness of her though. She asks him if he wants to find out and she moves closer to him.
Afterwards, they are lying on the side of the lake. She tells him he’s hairy and he says all the best mutants are. He says she never did tell him her name and she asks him who he would like her to be. Wolverine starts to read from The Odyssey, one of the books on the shore. He reads a line about Ulysses being tempted by the beautiful witch, Circe. Logan asks the waitress is that’s what she is… a beautiful witch. She smiles and tells him maybe. She asks about the other book and he tells her it doesn’t have a title. She points out he can’t judge a book by its cover. He opens it up to see the name is “A Coney Island of the mind” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He puts it back down and says he doesn’t know it. She asks if he’s sure and he says he thinks he could stay there with her forever as they kiss.
Later on, it’s getting dark as they walk through the jungle. Logan asks if she’s afraid and she asks if he meant of him. He says he meant the thing in the woods and she says she isn’t. He asks if that’s because it doesn’t want her. She replies that she never said it didn’t want her, just that she wasn’t afraid of it. Logan says that it can’t have her as she’s his now. They go to kiss but a growl rips through the jungle. Logan unsheathes his claws and heads off to find where the noise came from. He hears a crack of a branch and lashes out, slashing at a tree. He continues on and keeps hearing breaking branches around him. He slashes at the undergrowth and yells for it to come and fight him like a man. The waitress comes up to him and asks if it’s wise, as it nearly killed him before. He looks at her and asks if it excites her, him fighting this thing. He points out she’s trembling but it’s not from fear, it’s from something else. He asks her again who she is.
Before she can answer, Logan is attacked from behind. He is slashed down his back, carving a deep set of gouges in him. He spins around but he can’t see what hit him. He sniffs the air and then ducks as a set of claws swipes at him again. He smiles as he gloats that he dodged the attack. However, before he can relish it for too long, the monster impales him through the shoulder. It pulls its claws out as Logan kneels on the floor in pain.
The waitress walks up to him and he instinctively points his claws at her. She tells him that’s not the way. Before she can finish, a shadow envelopes them. The giant hairy monster jumps down from the tree tops, roaring as it does so. Logan blocks its attack with his own claws but it still manages to knock him over. He gets up to fight it but it’s vanished again. It attacks him from behind again, slashing across his chest. Logan drops to his knees and then falls face first onto the ground. He tries to get up but he can only turn over. He stares up at the night sky as the monster looms over him and readies itself to finish him off. However, before it can strike him, a voice shouts out and Logan turns to see the red-haired kid walking towards them. He is surrounded by the goblin-like creatures and he tells the monster to let him be.


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untitled
Logan throws a knife at a target behind the counter at a carnival stall. He misses, so he throws another. Amiko tries to calm him down but he yells at her, causing her to run off. He chases after her as goblin-like creatures follow him. They leave the carnival and run onto a beach. Amiko runs into the water but, when Logan goes after her, a giant, hairy monster rears out of the water and attacks him.
Logan picks himself up out of the water and finds himself back on the island again. He wearily says he’s dying and this is what it must feel like. He looks down into the sand on the beach and sees the message “get out of this wiseass!” The waitress comes up to him and says that all things die under Heaven and Earth. It’s just a matter of how. She turns around, walks towards the jungle and says that she just came to say goodbye. Logan yells after her and says she’s the only good thing about the island and he doesn’t want her leaving him. She looks at him and says she was saying goodbye but it doesn’t mean she’s leaving him. He grabs her and says she’s talking in circles and he’s sick of it. He demands that she tells him who she is and shouts for her to talk. She asks about what and he asks if it’s all a dream or not. She asks him how he feels and he replies that he is angry and in pain. She tells him that it’s a start but he shouts at her to knock off the double talk.
He asks her where the kid is that saved his life. He said the night beast had him and it was about to deliver the killing blow but the boy appeared, said “NO” and it vanished. The waitress walks over to a pile of rocks and asks Logan to tell her about his dream. He tells her it doesn’t make any sense but she gets him to tell it anyway. He explains that he is with his foster kid, Amiko, at a carnival.
Suddenly, the waitress starts running from him as if she’s scared or something. Maybe him. He would never do anything to hurt her, so why does he keep dreaming that? He continues and says he chases her down the midway and then the night beast appears and attacks him. He thinks it kills him. The waitress asks how it does it and Logan says it rips out his heart. She says she bets it hurts. With that, she gets off the rocks she was sitting on and tells him she has to go. Logan tries to stop her but she tells him she’s done all she can do for him. He needs to look to the boy now. Logan asks where he is and the waitress replies that he is at the carnival.
Later on, as the sun begins to set, Logan walks through the jungle. He comes across the inn again, only this time it’s looks a lot older and disused than the last time he saw it. He walks up to it and wonders how it aged so quickly. He looks at the name of the inn, “The Risposte,” and realizes it’s definitely the same place. He enters and goes to the bar. He swigs some drink from a bottle and picks up a book which was lying on the bar. He opens it to see it’s “The Coney Island of the Mind,” the same book he picked up the day before. He reads a note written on the first page that reads “To Logan, seek and ye shall find, your companion.”
A voice comes from behind him and says it’s Latin. Logan turns to see the young boy standing in the doorway. Logan asks if he meant the book but the boy says he meant the sign over the door. The boy looks at Logan and says they never understood Latin. Logan picks up on the plural and asks where everyone is. When the boy asks who he means, Logan takes another swig out of the bottle and says he was talking about the patrons and the guy who runs the bar. The kid asks what bar he is talking about, but Logan points to him and tells him not to start. He then thanks him for saving him from the monster the previous night.
Sitting on the bar, the boy says that it wasn’t him alone. Logan asks who else saved him and the boy asks if he has read the inscription. Logan picks the book up again and looks at it and then guesses the waitress. The boy sighs and tells Logan he isn’t very bright. Logan takes another swig of drink and tells the boy to speak for himself. The boy tells him that he’s waiting. Logan asks who and then guesses the yeti-man. The boy says yes, he has to finish the fight. It’s the only way off the island. Logan unsheathes his claws and slashes at a wooden pillar in the middle of the room. Logan shouts to bring him on and the boy asks if he means now. Logan says he does, to which the boy says he will lose before he’s even begun.
Logan swipes at the kid and lifts him off the floor by the scruff of the neck. The boy calmly asks if it’s him Logan really wants to kill. Is it him he really despises? Logan puts him down and says no. He then grabs his head and asks the boy to help him if he can. The boy tells him that’s all he needed to say.
The boy goes over to the jukebox and puts on a song. Logan recognizes it as the carnival music and he turns to see the barman behind the bar. The barman yells for him to hurry. Logan walks behind the bar as the man tells him to step this way. Logan turns to see the barman is now dressed as the owner of the freak show from the carnival. Behind him is a stage full of freak show people. Logan is now standing amongst a crowd and Amiko runs from it. Logan calls to her but she ignores him. The owner of the freak show yells for people to see the Lobster Boy of Paris and the Yeti-Man. Part-human, part-monster, all FREAK.
Logan grabs Amiko by the arms and pulls her away. He tells her to get out of there, as he doesn’t like the scene at all. As they leave the freak show, they walk through the game area. Amiko says they are just people like him and her. He tells her he said no. A stall owner gets his attention and so Logan goes over to win a prize. He pays some money and then starts throwing knives at a board. He misses and gets angry. Amiko suggests they should go on the Ferris wheel but Logan ignores her and continues to throw knives. When he misses again, the stall owner mocks him. He grabs the man and demands another knife. Amiko suggests they should go but he yells at her to leave him alone.
Logan grabs another knife and hurls it at the target, but it misses and goes through the sheet at the back of the stall. A scream rings out and everyone goes to see what caused it. They head to the freak show stage to see everyone crowded around it. Logan sees a man with hair all over his body lying on the stage with a knife embedded in his chest. The stall owner comes up and points to Logan and says he did it and that he tried to stop him. Someone checks the pulse of the hairy man and confirms he’s dead. Another person yells for someone to call the police. Logan turns to Amiko but she runs off. The crowd starts calling him a murderer and a freak killer. Logan gets distraught and says it was an accident. The taunts and the carnival music start to drive him mad and he grabs his head.
When he opens his eyes, he’s lying on the beach again with the message from earlier scrawled into the sand next to him. He looks at it again and realizes that he wrote it. He also realizes he put himself on the island. The waitress, standing in the distance, asks him about the boy. Logan says the boy is him. The woman adds that it’s his inner child trying to keep him on the path. Logan looks at her and asks what metaphor she stands for. She says he seems to be doing well for himself and asks what he thinks she is. Logan puts his hand on her check and suggests maybe his mother or and old love. Or maybe Amiko trying to tell him she doesn’t hate him. She asks if that’s what he fears and Logan says yes, as a tear rolls down his face.
Logan says it’s over. It was a fight with his subconscious and he won. The woman asks if he did. He says he did and then tells the woman no more games. She says the games have all been with himself. If his guilt has really eased, then why is that thing lurking in the jungle. Logan unsheathes his claws and says if it’s revenge his subconscious wants then he will let it finish the job. No more inner child to interfere. He rushes off into the jungle to let the thing kill him.
Once the sun has set, Logan stands in the jungle and yells for the monster to come out. He gets angry and shouts that he’s waiting. Suddenly, some claws come from behind him and slash him across the back. He turns to the monster and says that it’s found him and now it’s time to finish him. The monster swipes and slashes at him until Logan is bent over and ready for the killing blow. Logan yells for it to kill him as the monster rears its arms up high. Suddenly, Logan changes his mind and remembers who he really is. With that, he lunges forward and thrusts his claws through the monster’s chest.
Standing over the monster’s body, Logan thinks he’s failed. The woman appears and says that he’s won. By coming to terms with his guilt, he has forgiven himself. Logan says he killed it again though. She tells him he has slain the real enemy… the fear of being like him… a freak. He looks at her and says all these years he thought himself a freak. She says the mind retreats from what it cannot face. She bids him goodbye and says to never forget who he really is.
With that, she and the jungle begin to fade away until they are gone. Logan is left standing on an empty beach. He hears a sound in the distance and he sees a helicopter heading towards him. As he flies away from the island, he says he remembers now.


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Screen Goddess
‘Simon - it’s me. It’s Iron Man. Do you know what you’re doing?’ Tony “Iron Man” Stark calls out to Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man, as the enraged ionic Avenger soars towards his armor-clad teammate as the moon shines down over the darkening night. ‘Yeah, I know exactly what I’m doing…I’m doing this!’ Simon exclaims as he punches Iron Man, sending the founding Avenger reeling back through the air. ‘How about you, Avengers? You know you’re protecting my enemies?’ Wonder Man calls out. Down below, standing on the veranda of a large house, a woman with short blonde hair mutters ‘“Enemies” he means me?’, to which Julia “Spider-Woman” Carpenter calls her Ms Flores, and tells her to stay down and keep cool.
‘Simon…remember who you are’ Iron Man calls out as he releases a repulser ray at Wonder Man, knocking his teammate back. ‘You want me to keep cool…when they’re about to destroy my house?’ Ms Flores asks, while Simon lunges forward and shouts ‘Oh, I remember, Can-Head. I’m Wonder Man, right?’, to which Iron Man replies ‘Right, and you -’, but Simon interrupts, ‘And I’m stronger than you - right!’ he shouts, when suddenly, an arrow is fired towards Simon, who smiles: ‘Now what is -’ he begins, before the arrow detonates a loud sonic wave, causing Wonder Man to reel backwards in pain, clutching his ears. On the rooftop, Clint “Hakweye” Barton remarks that Simon has to be out of his head to get suckered by a sonic arrow like that. John Walker a.k.a. the handsome USAgent is also on the rooftop and tells Hawkeye not to pat himself on the back until they see if Iron Man’s sound-filter did its job.
As Iron Man punches Wonder Man to the ground, one of the men remarks ‘Guess it did’. Ms Flores looks at Spider-Woman in shock: ‘My lawn!’ she gasps. ‘Roto-Till it, Ms Flores’ Julia replies, smiling, as the impact of Simon’s body forced against the ground creates al large crater. ‘But I’m only renting!’ Ms Flores explains, while Simon shouts ‘Enemies - everyone! Everyone but…but…’, while USAgent urges Hawkeye to “nail” Wonder Man now. ‘Listen, Agent…we’ve got to do this job…we don’t have to enjoy it’, as he fires an electro-arrow at Simon, who receives a massive shock through his body. Simon looks up: ‘Hawkeye - USAgent - old chums…haven’t seen you for a while…well I see you now!’ Wonder Man exclaims as he shrugs off the effects of the arrow and flies towards Clint and Johnny.
Standing nearby, shadowed by the night, a figure whispers ‘Yes…yes, the signs are there…’, while Iron Man flies in front of Wonder Man before he can reach Clint and Johnny. ‘No you don’t Simon. I hate doing this…’ Iron Man begins, before punching Simon hard in the face, telling him that he has to keep him addled. At the level the men are flying at, they are close to a tree, and their tussel causes a large branch to snap and fall towards the figure standing in the shadows below. ‘Oh, my’ she utters, as the Scarlet Witch steps into the light, casting a spell which alters the probably path of the branch, hoping that Simon doesn’t notice. The branch falls away from the Scarlet Witch, who decides that she has to tell the others what she suspects, before it is too late.
‘Now -’ Wonder Man begins as he punches Iron Man back, when suddenly, a cloud-like form appears next to Simon, and a woman’s face can be seen in the cloud. ‘No, darling, I’m sorry…’ she begins. ‘But I’m protecting you from -’ Simon begins, while the enigmatic form tells him that he is calling attention to what they are doing, too early. Wonder Man, along with the mysterious cloud, then vanishes. ‘Can’t take much more of this. Have to find a way to…to…’ Iron Man calls out as he regains composure and flies back down towards the ground, only to see that Simon has vanished. ‘Where did he go?’ Tony asks his friends. Wanda stands near Spider-Woman and Ms Flores, as she explains that he vanished, and that from her studies of magic, she thinks she can say her intuition was right - Simon is in the grip of the supernatural.
‘Supernatural?’ Ms Flores asks. ‘Listen, uh…Scarlet witch…I think you’d better explain some things to me’. Spider-Woman smiles and points out that Ms Flores called them: ‘That means you’re it. Explanations start with you’ Julia declares, before asking her how she met Simon. Ms Flores reveals that she is a screenwriter, and was doing a quickie-rewrite of this two-bit war movie, until she suddenly got canned by some new “associate producer” named Helen Eve, who turned out to be the producer’s main squeeze. ‘Considering I hadn’t turned in page one, I couldn’t figure why I’d been booted…’ Ms Flores begins as she tells her story:
Flashback, takes place before the beginning of this issue, narrated by Alex Flores:‘…until I met her. And believe me, I knew all about Eve. Her type, anyway’ Ms Flores explains, adding that she could smell the testosterone surging from a mile away. ‘Need some coffee, Helen?’ ‘I was just on my way to get some, Helen’ extras on the set called out as they swarmed around her. ‘I know where they serve real coffee, Helen’ another exclaimed. Ms Flores informs the Avengers West Coast that she knew there was no room on that set for any woman without major facial deformities. ‘War films need a more…masculine touch, Ms Flores’ Helen Eve announced. ‘I’m sure you know all about the masculine touch, Ms Eve’ Ms Flores replied, only to learn of a new actor that Helen Eve had brought on set, ‘A typical dumb hunk of beef…at least that’s what I figured’ she tells the heroes.
‘Finally - somebody believes I can act!’ Simon Williams exclaimed as he walked on set, only to fall like a dead tree for Helen Eve - just like the other men, only harder. ‘Uh’ Simon uttered. ‘You’ll find we treat our people well, Simon’ Helen smiled at him, while Ms Flores noticed that Simon began acting weird. ‘You have my loyalty, Helen. I will stand with you…’ Simon uttered. ‘…and against my enemies?’ Helen asked, quietly. ‘And against…your enemies’ Simon told her. Ms Flores decided that she had to follow up on that - writer’s instinct. ‘Yo, Simon Williams, right?’ she called out to Wonder Man, who seemed to snap back to reality, telling him that he sounds lost in a fog. Ms Flores went over to Simon and introduced herself as Alex - ‘Uncredited script assist. If you’ve got any questions…’ she began.
Simon just replied that Helen told him to ho home and study his part. ‘Do you know when the studio shuttle comes back?’ Simon asked. ‘You don’t mean…you don’t have a car? How do you survive in LA without a car?’ Alex asked, motioning to her car, she joked that her jaguar was in the garage, mainly because she doesn’t have enough money to buy it. ‘But if you don’t mind being seen in the only sensible car in Hollywood’ she remarked, adding ‘And don’t tell me you’re surprised to see a chick with a nose ring driving that’ she added. ‘Like I tell everybody, fashion is fashion and mileage is mileage’.
Alex admits to the Avengers West Coast that she was nattering with Simon, but at least she brought him out of his fog. As they drove off, they remained unaware that Helen Eve was watching them. ‘Flores, huh? Not related to Tom Flores, I guess? He used to coach the Raiders’ Simon enquired. ‘I know. And I’m not’ Alex told him, asking if Simon is related to Jamie Williams, the best run-blocking tight end in the NFL? ‘Holy jeez. A woman who knows football! LA is the promised land!’ Simon exclaimed as they continued driving. Alex tells the Avengers that she must have been in a fog herself, not to figure that they were being watched.
In the car, Alex managed to twist the conversation to where she wanted, asking Simon if he thought that it was a little odd that the guys aren’t a little excessively taken with Helen Eve? ‘What are you talking about? What do you know about…about…oh no. could it be…no…NO! How can you even think that?’ Simon shouted at Alex, before slapping his head and telling her that he was sorry. ‘I don’t know what I’m…or do I? If it’s…but it isn’t…’ he babbled, before writing on a notepad, ‘It isn’t! But if it is…gotta set something up…gotta…make myself…’ he exclaimed, while Alex wondered if this ride wasn’t such a good idea. ‘NO!’ Simone shouted at her, before holding up the piece of paper he wrote on, telling her to take it from him before he destroyed it. ‘If anything happens…if you’re in danger…call this phone number. Tell them…Wonder Man is out of control!’ Simon exclaimed. ‘Wonder Man…?’ Alex whispered.
Present:Alex supposes that she isn’t up on her super heroes, and that the number Simon gave her was for the Avengers West Coast. ‘And that’s how I came to call you’ she concludes, adding that Simon didn’t say anything after that, even when she dropped him off, adding that it was like he was fighting something inside him. ‘I just pegged him as another crackpot actor and thanked all the Gods in Heaven that I didn’t tell him where I lived!’ Alex exclaims, adding that, just after dark, she had this incredible feeling of being watched, that eyes were on her - hateful eyes. ‘And then I saw his face at the window…and it was twisted…’ Alex reveals. Wanda tells her that it is okay, and that the Avengers West Coast are glad she called them. ‘And glad ol’ Simon had the self-control not to wade into you before we got here!’ Clint smiles, while hoping that second arrow does its duty.
At that moment, inside a dark car, ‘Well, I suppose we’re far enough now…pity your partners in the Avengers had to intrude…but you passed your test at least, didn’t you, naughty boy? Now come to mama, do’ Helen exclaims in the backseat of the car, clicking her fingers, Wonder Man suddenly materializes next to her. ‘Hey! What - where -?’ Simon exclaims, before realizing that there is nobody in the front seat. ‘Who’s driving this -’ he begins, but Helen Eve just smiles and tells Simon to hush. ‘Just wait. If a star can’t trust his associate producer…who can he trust?’ she asks him.
Soon, inside a living room, Helen holds up a glass of wine, ’Just relax, sweetness’ she tells Wonder Man, assuring him that they are alone, high in the Hollywood Hills, where no one can disturb them. ‘But…where was I? I was in some place…with no up or down, no…’ Wonder Man begins, rubbing his head. ‘Oh, that was Limbo, darling. I retreat there myself when things get a bit too…stressful’ she explains, before stroking Simon’s chest and asking him if it would shock him if she slipped into something more comfortable. She doesn’t give him time to answer and there is a crack of energy, as Helen Eve vanishes - and the Enchantress reveals herself! ‘Mmm. Much better’ the Asgardian witch mutters.
‘Oh, no. Part of me knew…but you kept me from seeing it…again! Kept me from realizing…you’re the Enchantress!’ Simon exclaims. The Enchantress smiles and puts a finger to Simon’s lips, telling him that there is no need for self-recrimination. ‘You’re only as blind as I want you to be’ she explains. ‘Only as blind as love’ she adds. ‘Oh…Lord…’ Simon thinks to himself, sweating, he gets the same feeling as he got at the shoot this morning. ‘Got to fight it…got to remember who she is. What she did last time…’ Simon tells himself. ‘Oh. Now you’re thinking! There!’ the Enchantress exclaims as she forces Simon down onto the couch. The Enchantress tells Simon that a man in love should never think. ‘Don’t you ever watch the movies?’ she asks him.
The Enchantress smirks as she tells Simon that he must be in love with her, because he is going to be with her, forever, as protector, as consort. ‘And believe me - not like last time! I still can’t believe how silly I was…enchanting you so sweetly just so I could strike at those pompous Avengers! Then making a God of you so you could join me as an equal. Only to have the heightened awareness of godhood enable you to break my little spell’ the Enchantress recalls. The Asgardian’s lips move closer to Simon’s, and she points out that he is not enlightened no, quite the opposite, she would say. ‘Now you’re simply…mine’ the Enchantress declares. ‘Yours’ Simon utters. ‘All yours. Except one little sliver of my mind that can’t do anything…except watch the rest of me being yours’ Simon thinks to himself, before the Enchantress kisses him.
The Enchantress pulls away and declares that there is no time for that now. ‘Deferred gratification is one of those virtues I’ll have to learn…if I’m not to make little girlish mistakes like last time…if I’m to take advantage of the trouble in Asgard’ the Enchantress declares. She holds up a fiery illusion of her fellow Asgardians and announces that Heimdall is on a clean-up campaign lately, after banishing Thor for killing his brother, Loki. She clenches her fist and mutters that the mood in Asgard is rather threatening. ‘And since I’m quite the Asgardian girl scout…I have to wonder what might befall me’ the Enchantress declares as she leans into Wonder Man and strokes his face. ‘Which is why I need to develop a base of power on Earth. Power such as Hollywood might provide’ the Enchantress reveals.
The Enchantress boasts that she can bewitch men, eliminate influential women and take over whole studios. ‘I love…the touch of her hands. I want her…’ Simon thinks to himself as the Enchantress runs her hand across his well-defined chest. The Enchantress exclaims that she can make herself the star of her own movies and fill them with “subliminal suggestions”. ‘And then, dear heart, I can make every man in the world fall in love with me’ the Enchantress exclaims. ‘It’s a kind of worship, you know…’ she remarks. ‘I…can’t…want her’ Simon thinks to himself. ‘Can’t…let myself…want her…I can’t’ he tells himself again, his hand shaking as he tries to raise to the Enchantress, who is now straddling Simon and exclaims ‘Fan worship. And through worship, we Asgardians increase our power’.
The Enchantress continues, stating that all of this will make enemies, of course, and she won’t be able to use her power to fight them, lest dreary old Odin should notice. ‘That’s where I need you, darling. Big and strong…and very mort-’ the Enchantress begins, only for Simon to reach up and grab her by her wrists, pulling her back. ‘WHAT?’ the Enchantress gasps. ‘If you want someone…to fight your enemies…’ Simon begins. ‘Yes?’ the Enchantress asks. ‘…shouldn’t we get started?’ Wonder Man enquires. The Enchantress just smirks.
Soon, at the movie studio set, ‘Here, sweetness. An over budgeted dinosaur movie backed by a female investor…with criminal ties and fiercely loyal men, scheming to take over the studio...and force your pretty Enchantress out’ the Enchantress declares, examining the dinosaur set. ‘But if an accident happens, if these metal beasts should explode…then her insurance rates will jump halfway to Asgard. That would put her film on the shelf, and that would leave her vulnerable…to me’ the Enchantress schemes. ‘Why do you need me for this?’ Simon asks her. ‘You were once a munitions maker, weren’t you, lover? I don’t understand these sill mortal devices…but with your knowledge and your…ionic power, isn’t it? You can make a nice accident. Now do it…for love!’ the Enchantress exclaims, stroking Simon’s bicep.
‘For love…’ Simon utters as he takes flight towards the large robotic T-Rex. He tells himself that he has to break inside and mangle its wiring, slaming a fist against the face of the robot. Suddenly, a security guard appears. ‘All right! I heard that! Come down off there, you rotten - kids?’ he calls out, stopping himself as he sees Simon standing on the dinosaur’s head. The Enchantress exclaims that no one must know they were here, and orders Simon to still the guard’s tongue - forever. ‘no’ Simon replies. ‘He is the enemy!’ the Enchantress declares. ‘Enemy…’ Simon mutters. ‘Kill him!’ the Enchantress shrieks. ‘Kill him. Kill him. Kill him…’ Simon says as he flies towards the security guard, who begins firing his gun at Simon, although the bullets bounce off him - a large, powerful repulser ray, however, sends Simon falling to the studio floor.
Iron Man drops down and apologizes to Simon for the repulser ray. ‘But I can’t let you go around flattening people!’ Iron Man declares. The security guard sees Iron Man and realizes that on the floor is Wonder Man. ‘I think…I should leave now’ he utters. Simon looks up, and tells Iron Man that is fine. ‘It’s important that you do a good deed…in the last moment of your life!’ he shouts as he flies towards Iron Man. Standing behind a wall nearby, the Enchantress looks worried, and tells herself that this is no coincidence. ‘How have they found us? He couldn’t have told them…not under my spell!’ the Enchantress tells herself. ‘Simon…please’ Iron Man pleads as Wonder Man wraps his powerful hands around Iron Man’s neck. ‘No. I don’t hear you’ Simon replies, only for Iron Man to kick Simon backwards, releasing a repulser ray from his foot. ‘Then why’d you loosen your grip?’ Tony asks his teammate.
Nearby, Hawkeye realizes that Wonder Man is fighting it. ‘Now’s the time, Agent’ he tells USAgent, who radios to Wanda, asking her if she is ready. ‘As ready as I will ever be’ Wanda whispers, while watching Simon and Iron Man fight in the air above her. ‘You will not confuse me - you are my enemy!’ Simon shouts, before suddenly he is dowsed in the Scarlet Witch’s hex power. Wanda concentrates hard as the power surges from her, she thinks to herself that she doesn’t even know if she can do this, changing the probabilities of Simon’s neural synapses, giving his suppressed personality a chance to take command of his brain. Simon reels backwards, while Iron Man flies towards him: ‘Okay, Simon…this one’s the test!’ Tony tells his friend as he punches him hard in the face.
Down below, the Enchantment knows something is wrong. ‘He took that blow, as if…as if…can my enchantment be…’ she tells herself, while Wonder Man punches Iron Man hard. ‘The Enchantress smirks, while wondering if she could have doubted her power. ‘You could’ve pulled your punch a little, you know’ Tony whispers to Simon. ‘We’re playing for a tough audience, She--Head. We’ve got to make this convincing!’ Simon whispers back as he slams Iron Man to the ground. Tony lies there, the ground shattered around him. ‘Now…it’s time to end this!’ Wonder Man shouts as he turns his attention to USAgent and Hawkeye. ‘Well, wouldja look at that? I missed!’ Hawkeye exclaims as Simon dodges an arrow.
Both Hawkeye and Walker leap to safety, while Wonder Man soars past them. ‘Puny gnats! I have defeated your champion - you are nothing!’ he exclaims. ‘“Puny gnats”, yet’ Hawkeye mutters, before calling out to Spider-Woman: ‘Now it’s all yours, Web-Chest!’ he tells her. But the Enchantress stands over Spider-Woman, ‘Dear, oh, dear…see the little heroes run. And who is this little one?’ she grins. ‘No, Simon - please! Please, don’t!’ Julia calls out to Wonder Man as he flies down towards her. Hands on hips, the Enchantress asks whether she should deal with this coward. ‘I imagine you prefer not to hit a woman, hmmm?’ she enquires. Simon smiles, and replies ‘Well, that’s very considerate of you, honey. But as far as hitting women goes…I can make an exception!’, and with that, Simon punches the Enchantress, sending her reeling backwards.
The Enchantress lands against a wall, shattering it. She looks up at Simon, ‘This is - impossible! No man can do this to…to…’ she utters, while Simon, Tony, Clint, Johnny, Julia and Wanda gather together, and stand over the fallen Asgardian. ‘You blew it, baby’ Simon tells her. ‘You tried to make a “god” out of me last time. It didn’t work. But things like that don’t just wear off. There’s a little corner of my mind you can never take over’ Simon exclaims. ‘That’s the corner that figured the Avengers would know what to do if I gave Alex their number. That’s the corner that knew what Hawkeye had stuck on me with his arrow…that knew it was a tracer device…I forced myself to leave it there’ Simon announces, holding up the small tracer.
‘The toughest part was keeping you from taking my clothes off!’ Simon tells the Enchantress, who scowls, and asks ‘Who do you think you are playing with? Some over-endowed imbecile like Goliath? Some mortal thug with powers too good for him?’ she asks, before laughing, and asking ‘Will you fight me with your little arrows? With fists? Or how about webs, hmmmm?’, only to scowl again and clench her fists, boasting that she is an Asgardian, that no man can escape her and no woman can survive her. ‘I am an immortal! I am a goddess! I can do with one gesture what you cannot do with your combined might!’
‘Yeah? So gesture away, lady!’ USAgent tells her. ‘Oh, please…’ Hawkeye mutters, while Wonder Man tells the Enchantress to do her best, to blast away. ‘And I hope Odin notices!’ he tells her. ‘O…din?’ the Enchantress whispers. ‘I shouldn’t have told you! Why - why must I always boast! Oh, how I’d love to reduce you all to hot fat, bubbling over your super hero boots! But you are right, curse you! Such a display of Asgardian power might drawn Heimdall’s all-seeing attentions…and that would undo my entire plan!’ The Enchantress tells Simon not to breathe easy yet, and points out that he has done what she has allowed no man to do - reject her. ‘And I will find a way to make you regret it!’ she warns him, before vanishing.
‘Oh, boy. Do what do we do now?’ Simon asks his teammates. ‘“We”?’ the Scarlet Witch asks, smiling, before telling Simon that she is proud of the way he fought the Enchantress’ spell. ‘Somehow I’ve…uh…I’ve thought you were the sort of man who was easily…’ Wanda’s voice trails off. ‘Uh-uh, Wanda. It takes one heck of a woman to make me fall’ Simon replies, smiling at his dear friend. ‘I’m…glad’ Wanda replies. ‘As long as it isn’t too difficult for you to…climb back up’ she adds. Simon smiles and suggests that perhaps he should find Alex Flores, and that hr probably owes her an apology for nearly getting her killed.
‘Forget it! These days screenwriters are killing for new twists on action scenes…and this one I’ve never seen. Not in a movie, anyway!’ Alex smiles. ‘You’re telling me…you followed us?’ Simon asks her as she approaches him, before telling Alex that she is pretty gutsy, for a writer. ‘Yeah? Well, you’re pretty smart…for a hunk of beef’ Alex replies, before asking Simon for a life home on his jet pack. ‘You want me to fly behind you and be what?’ Iron Man asks his friend. ‘A chaperone, bud. Women in Hollywood…they’re a dangerous breed!’ Simon replies.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Tough Times
‘HYAAAHHH!’ shouts Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man as he lunges towards Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America. ‘You’ve made a fatal mistake, Wonder Man!’ Cap calls out, as he grabs Wonder Man and flips him over onto the ground. ‘Never open an attack with your arms out and your head exposed. You lay yourself open to all sorts of trouble’ Cap explains. ‘Shoot’ Wonder Man mumbles. Cap adds that learning Aikido doesn’t mean you have to scream like a maniac. ‘I know. I know. I’m just frustrated’ Wonder Man replies. He points out that relying on his ionic strength for so long, he has never bothered to learn any real fighting techniques, as Splice recently proved. ‘I’ll need some techniques to handle well-trained opponents. Who better to teach me than Captain America?’ Wonder Man remarks.
Cap helps Wonder Man up and tells him that he is learning those techniques, and quickly, too, so he should keep his chin up, and his guard up. ‘Let’s see just what you’ve learned’ Cap remarks as he extends a fist, which Wonder Man blocks with ease. ‘Good block!’ Cap congratulates Wonder Man, who attempts to elbow-jab Cap, but the experienced fighter ducks, ‘You’re still thinking too much’ Cap points out, assuring Simon that practice will take care of that until it is instinctive. ‘Did I tell you about my tussle with that Panzer Division in Tunis, when -’ Cap begins, but Simon interrupts him, ‘I’m sure you did, Cap. Now, can you show me that “pivot-throw” again?’ Simon asks. Camp clears his throat, before replying ‘Yes, of course’, and tells Simon to remember the principle of Aikido, to redirect your opponent’s force, instead of meeting force with force.
‘Take his force on your forward hand…swing your inside leg back…pivot on your toes…and throw him’ Cap demonstrates and Simon copies his actions. ‘Take his force…swing the leg back and…’ Wonder Man calls out, only for Cap to punch him in the face: ‘You didn’t pivot!’ Cap exclaims. ‘All right, all right! I’ll pivot! Come at me again!’ Wonder Man exclaims. ‘Okay, all in one move - DID IT!’ he shouts as he pivots and flips Captain America over - only he flips him so hard that Cap crashes into the Palos Verdes Compound walls. ‘What the -’ Cap begins, to which Wonder Man quickly apologizes. ‘I was getting so bugged I couldn’t -’ Simon exclaims, but Cap tells him to take it easy, ‘At least I know you’re learning’ he smiles.
The Avengers walk into another part of the Avengers West Coast headquarters, as Simon remarks ‘And that’s the thank you get for teaching me, right? You come all the way from New York to get slammed into a wall’. Cap replies that he has slammed into tougher walls than that in his day. ‘I hope I can take anything an Avengers Compound wall can dish out’ Cap smiles. Simon tells Cap that he will take his word for it, and thanks him again for coming out. ‘I feel much more prepared for attacks now, and -’ Simon begins, when suddenly, a voice shouts ‘Are you prepared for this?’ Simon spins around, and sees Dr Henry McCoy a.k.a. the Beast bounding towards him. ‘Don’t both to answer, old boy…that look on your face is too eloquent!’ the Beast calls out. ‘HANK?!’ Simon gasps, ducking as the Beast jumps over him.
‘Well, I could be one of those other blue-furred bounding Beasts’ Hank remarks, while Simon asks him what he is doing here. Hank explains that when he heard Cap was coming to tutor Simon in “Mayhem for the Masses”, he hitched a ride. ‘It’s been so long since I’ve “Done LA”!’ Hank adds. Simon smiles and adds ‘Long enough to be completely out of touch with current slang, obviously. But then I forget that you live in a city where “ey, yo, whaddyadoing, geddouda heah” passes for conversation’ Simon smiles. ‘True. But at least in New York we know how to begin a sentence with a word other than “I”!’ Hank retorts.
Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch enters the room and stands beside her dear friend Captain America, commenting that she doesn’t think she has ever seen Simon so playful. Cap agrees and points out that it is a side Simon doesn’t show much, although the Beast always seemed to be able to draw it out of him. ‘But then, you can’t use a cellular phone in the subway’ the Beast remarks as he bounds over Wonder Man.
Wanda smiles, and remarks that she wonders whether she knew Simon as well as she should have. ‘Well, aren’t you going to share with me what you’ve learned today?’ the Beast asks. ‘If you insist…’ Simon replies, grabbing the Beast, he tells him that this is what Cap calls a “pivot-throw”, and he flings Hank over his shoulder, causing him to crash into the wall. ‘Not bad, not bad. Left the wall intact this time!’ Wonder Man remarks. Hank smiles and compliments his friend on his restraint. ‘Restraint, good sir, if something you cannot comprehend!’ Simon replies. ‘Let alone judge’ he adds, before asking Hank what he is really doing here. Hank reveals that he is seeking a companion with whom to plunge into the dark heart of this city of fallen angels.
Meanwhile, ‘Oh, yes. Tough times. And no matter what the economists would have us believe - they’ll get tougher’ a man in a suit remarks to a man in a green jacket as he rifles through a rubbish bin in the middle of a park. ‘Can’t get much tougher for me, Clarke’ the man in the green tells the man in the suit. ‘Getting so the guys how told me they didn’t have a job for me last year…are coming around asking where to get a hot meal this year’. He adds that next there will be so many people returning pop bottles that he will need a college degree to do this. ‘I’m afraid no degree will help you, August. Take it from me’ Clarke replies. He adds that the American system has ceased to reward merit, that it has ceased to consider long-term value. ‘The race now goes to the slickest. To the one with the most lawyers and the cleverest accountants. No longer to the creator of -’ Clarke is interrupted by August who pulls a bottle from the rubbish bin, but it is half-full, and liquid splashes about. ‘Dang! I wish these City Hall fools would finish their drinks! Now I got some yuppie’s bubble-water running all up my arm!’ August complains. Clarke tells him to stop complaining, and points out that that is Reaganomics in action. ‘Better explain that’ August mutters.
‘Why, haven’t you heard of the Trickle-Down Effect?’ Clarke asks. ‘Uh-huh. Keep going’ August tells him, hands on hips. Clarke explains that it is the miracle of supply-side economics - that August supplies the cans and bottles for recycling, and he gets his reward. ‘Right up side yo haid’ Clarke adds. ‘Now here, in my pockets…the fruit of a full day’s self-degradation. Am I investing it in a S&L? No! I’m spending it!’ Clarke exclaims as he pulls some coins from his pocket. Clarke continues, telling August that it is the new monetarism in action, just as their benign leaders designed it. ‘The system works…even if we don’t. ‘Ha! You know something, Clarke? You are a crazy man!’ August smiles. ‘Yeah. I’m a crazy man, all right’ Clarke replies, frowning.
Clarke looks up at a nearby building, ‘They’ll tell you that’s why I’m down here…instead of up there, where I belong’ Clarke declares. ‘They won’t tell you it’s because of their own short-sighted buy-outs and sell-outs…their willingness to mortgage the American economy to foreign investors…to let our industrial infrastructure crumble so they can puff up quarterly profits and inflate stock prices’. ‘What are you talking about?’ August calls out, pushing his trolley of cans and bottles behind Clarke. ‘Clarke Futuristics could have been a contender in American high-tech. It could have rivalled Stark International’ Clarke declares, adding that instead it was driven into bankruptcy by artificial market fluctuations, eaten in a hostile take-over by a multinational consortium.
‘All they can do is gobble up patents…duplicate products!’ Clarke exclaims, angrily. ‘I was the inventor! Everything I made was an extension of me! That suit was…was…’ he reaches into his jacket pocket as his voice trails off, and he pulls a small remote-shaped device from it. He presses a button, and declares ‘nothing., but one of these days…’, while August remarks that Clarke always pushes that “thing” when he is under this building. ‘What is it?’ he asks. ‘It’s the way off the streets, brother. And it’s my revenge’ Clarke replies.
Meanwhile, Simon and Hank are in a car, driving along a busy road. ‘I’m surprised you had to borrow a car from the Avengers, Simon. Don’t you -’ Hank begins, but Simon shouts ‘NO I DON’T! And don’t ask me how I survive in LA without a car’. ‘The query shall never breach my lips, comrade’ Hank replies, before suggesting Simon take the next exit. ‘You sure you wanted that exit? This isn’t exactly a tourist-mecca’ Simon points out as they drive down a street. ‘Not for the white-shoed video-cam-bearing masses of mid-America, no. but for a rarer breed of tourist…this is the elephants’ graveyard of ethnic cuisine!’ Hank exclaims as they walk along the sidewalk, Hank with a book in his hands. Hank adds ‘Koreatown, East Hollywood, Lower Wilshire - world capital of recombinant food!’
“Recombinant…food?” Simon asks. Hank tells his friend to imagine a restaurant run by a gun from Bombay who immigrated to Java, learned Greek cooking from a Turkish sailor, moved to LA and added Mexican to his menu. ‘Better yet, don’t imagine it, just eat it!’ Hank exclaims. ‘Uh…I don’t know about this, Hank’ Simon tells his friend, pointing out that he doesn’t have to eat, and that it seems so self-indulgent to eat for the fun of it. ‘Ah, Williams you’re such a WASP! Well, this azure-pelted Celtic mutant is going to force you to enjoy life!’ Hank exclaims. ‘You sound just like a starlet I know. Always after me to “get loose”!’ Simon replies. Hank grins, and asks ‘A starlet, is it? I’m glad to hear there are some corporeal enjoyments the great white hero doesn’t deny himself!’
Hank continues, ‘What is life, after all, but an ouroborean orbit of dalliance and degustation, and what is man but an ephemeral gourmand at the great table of -’, until Simon interrupts him: ‘Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I thought you didn’t talk like that anymore!’ ‘Only when I know it’ll bug the behoozis out of whoever I’m talking to!’ Hank smiles, before remarking ‘So anyway, starlet, as opposed to “Scarlet”. I take it matters have cooled with Wanda?’ Simon frowns and replies that he doesn’t know. ‘That whole thing’s such a mess. Wanda being married - and married to the Vision, yet, an android whose mind is based on mine. I tell you, the worst thing about having powers is the confusion it gets you into. There are no rules for lives like mine. It’s so…’ his voice trails off.
Simon continues, ‘Who am I to complain? At least I can still be a movie actor. You’re covered with blue fur. ‘You’d be amazed how much I save on suntan lotion’ Hank replies, before asking Simon if he has ever tasted a jackfruit, or smelled a durien. They approach a stall, and Hank looks at some fruit. ‘Ah, you Angelenos. No idea what you have at your own doorsteps!’ he remarks, before speaking to a small girl at the stall in her native language. ‘Uh…Hank? Do you think you should…’ Simon begins, but Hank flips up onto the stall and tells Simon to relax. ‘I may inspire the lass to a great career in primatology’ Hank points out, before he starts to peel a banana with his feet. ‘Amazing. Absolutely amazing’ Simon smiles, while the girl laughs. An older woman goes over to the girl, and they continue to speak in their native language, while Simon suggests they get out of here before Hank is given a tin cup and a hat. ‘You see, dear Simon? Tis as the poet hath writ…”life is what yez makes it, brudda”!’
Meanwhile, in laboratory inside a somewhat familiar building, ‘I tell you, I heard it clicking again’ a scientist remarks to another. ‘Are you sure it was this one? Clarke’s original suit?’ the other scientist asks, motioning to a red and tallow armor which is lined up with several other armors, all the same. ‘Positive. The ones we duplicated are silent. Like this one should be’ the first scientist remarks, before touching a control panel, deciding that they should turn the suit on and run a few tests. The arms raise into the air, ‘YOW!’ the first scientist exclaims. ‘Hmm. Responsive thing’ the second scientist decides.
Outside, Clarke is still walking with August, who is pushing his cart of bottles along the sidewalk. ‘You? An inventor? Come on, you’re playing games with me’ August exclaims. ‘Oh, it’s true. Sad…but true’ Clarke replies, explaining that after Simon Williams wiped himself out with his embezzlement scandal, he was the number-two man in government-contracted high-tech. ‘I was…’ Clarke is interrupted when a beeping noise can be heard inside his jacket pocket. He pulls out the strange device, which is ticking. ‘Oh, Lord…YES!’ Clarke exclaims as he raises the remote towards the building, of which a sign identifies it as being called Pactech.
Back in the laboratory, ‘What’s…what’s…’ the first scientist repeats as the armor continues to move about, before suddenly bursting out the side of the building wall, and it falls straight down into August’s trolley of bottles. August looks up at the building and exclaims ‘Hey! Look at this mess here! Why don’t those people look where they’re throwing their trash!’, while Clarke goes over to the armor and tells August not to sweat it. ‘This little darling’s going to make us more money…than all the soda cans in the world!’ he declares. The two scientists look out of the hole in the wall, and the first asks ‘What do we do? Call security…or sanitation?’, to which the second points out that it is coming back up - and that the armor is not empty. ‘YES!’ Clarke, inside the armor, exclaims as he lashes out at the scientists. ‘It’s mine again! The power is mine again!’ he declares. Clarke smiles and states that first the suit was his pride and joy, and then it got him thrown in jail. ‘Now it’s time it brought me some good luck again. And paid some people back!’
‘You’re kidding!’ Simon calls out as he sees the restaurant up ahead where Hank is leading him to - Kimiko’s Pastrami dog. Hank tells Simon to prepare for adventure such as no adventure hath e’er undertaken. ’The teriyaki chilli dog!’ Hank declares. Simon replies that he would rather fight Baron Zemo. They enter the restaurant and Hank tells Simon that this place is unique in all the world. ‘I should hope so. Now, can we -?’ Simon begins, but Hank tells him no. ’I want my California weirdness!’ he declares. ‘Not to mention this…uh…California scenery’ Hank smiles as he looks around at the patrons. ‘…So he goes, you want to go to the mall? And I’m like, that is so gross, I mean, he’s wearing low-top shoes!’ a woman can be heard saying.
‘You punched a super-villain? Oh, wow! It wasn’t Dr Doom was it? I’d love to meet somebody who punched Dr Doom!’ another customer calls out to the person they are sitting with. ‘Ah, who says LA isn’t a center of culture?’ Hank smles. ‘At least nobody’s yelling “Go Mets”!’ Simon replies, before Hank turns to the waitress and asks ‘I trust you have no objection to befurred patrons so long as they appreciate your culinary creativity?’. Simon looks away and mutters “Mr Charm”, while the woman replies ‘You don’t shed, I don’t care’ before asking if he wants coffee. Simon tells Hank that he has to hand it to him, and that he wished he had his touch. ‘The touch is easy. Finding something worth touching is the tricky part’ Hank replies.
‘Like this starlet of yours’ Hank grins. ‘Is she everything this poor, frustrated Manhattanite desperately wants a Hollywood starlet to be?’ he asks. Simon replies that he doesn’t know. ‘She’s cute. She’s fun…but she’s only 19 and she’s nuts. Only wants me because I’m a super hero’ he explains, before revealing that he met someone else recently, a screen writer, more his age. ‘But I’m not sure what she’s looking f-’ Simon begins, before suddenly, a shrieking voice calls out ‘Brandi! Brittani!’, as a blond woman rushes into the diner and finds her friends sitting in a booth. ‘Oh my gnawed! We’ve gotta go Downtown!’ she tells them. ‘Oh, right! Like I want to go Downtown! That’s gross, Tiffani!’ one of the girls exclaims, shocked. ‘I thought we were going to Beverly Center’ the other girl remarks. ‘No, it’s like, see, my Mom calls, right? And she’s like in her office and she’s screaming, right?’ Tiffani exclaims.
Tiffani smiles as she continues: ‘And she’s all like, you stay home and lock the doors, cause there’s this guy who’s like, smashing up the building’. The other girls get excited and sit up in the booth, ‘You mean, he’s just all smashing buildings and everything?’ one of them asks. ‘And there’s like, total cops all over and cars are on fire and people are all screaming -’ Tiffani exclaims. ‘Oh, that sounds like just sooooo coooo-wulf!’ the other girl declares. Simon and Hank overhear the girls’ loud discussion, and Simon tells Hank that they better look into this. ‘If that’s coooo-wuhl, I imagine we should’ Hank replies. Simon starts to get up and suggests they slip out quick, but Hank stops him: ‘Slip out? With a perfect audience like this? We’re going todo it, let’s do it right’ he tells his friend. ‘But…’ Simon begins to protest. ‘A-one…a-two…’ Hank begins, before Simon rips off his trench coat and Hank tears his shirt away, and they both should ‘AVENGERS ASSEMBLE’ as they leap into action.
‘Wait - you still with X-Factor?’ Wonder Man asks. ‘X-Men’ the Beast reveals. ‘X-Citing?’ Wonder Man enquires. ‘X-Tremely’ the Beast replies before kicking the front door of the restaurant open. ‘Oh! How!’ one of the girls begins ‘Cool!’ the other concludes. ‘Now, wasn’t that more fun than slipping out?’ the Beast asks. ‘Yeah, fun. A few hundred bucks in repair bills - for nothing!’ Wonder Man replies. ‘For nothing?’ the Beast exclaims as Simon grabs onto him and takes him into the air. ‘But I thought impressing teenage girls was the whole point of being a super hero?’ the Beast remarks. ‘You know…I do so miss that flight pack of yours’ the Beast tells his friend. ‘Save it. Our flying man is in sight. Doesn’t look like anyone I’ve seen. You?’ Wonder Man replies as they approach the Pactech building.
‘Oh, no! That clown! Rampage!’ the Beast exclaims, informing Wonder Man that the Champions fought him, and Iceman filled him in. The Beast reveals that Rampage is an inventor who popped his cork when he went bankrupt, and started robbing banks. The Beast explains that Rampage’s suit is as strong as Iron Man’s, but far more vulnerable, and Hercules laid Rampage to rest with a bit of modest smiting. ‘Clarke. I remember him from my own munitions days. Always saw himself as a victim’ Wonder Man announces, while Rampage starts tearing the logo off the side of the Pactech building. Wonder Man tells the Beast to do a little distracting, and then he will mop Rampage up. ‘My thoughts precisely’ the Beast replies, as Wonder Man hurls him through the air towards Rampage.
‘Gimme a P! Gimme a A! Gimme a C! What’s that spell? Pack it in, boys! The rightful owner of this company has come back to claim it!’ Rampage exclaims as he holds the three large letters overhead. ‘And you’re going to be suffering a few hundred mil in damage if you don’t -’ Rampage calls out, before the Beast lands on his back: ‘You know, I really love my job!’ the Beast smiles, while Wonder Man swoops down then flies upwards, only he looks up and sees the three large letters falling towards him - although he manages to punch them, shattering them into lots of small pieces, his momentum is knocked about, and Wonder Man plummets into a car on the street below.
‘Okay, Simon, it’s your turn to -’ the Beast calls out as he bounds onto a nearby rooftop, but Rampage follows him. However, when he doesn’t see Wonder Man, the Beast smashes a brick chimney into Rampage, knocking the criminal down. Wonder Man gets up out of the car, ‘Sorry about this, Hank, I still have to get the hang of this jumping business’ Simon thinks to himself. ‘I suppose you want to know why I’m doing this, hero. I suppose you want to hear me rant about my motivation’ Rampage calls out. ‘Oh, why bother? Let’s just fight’ the Beast suggests. ‘Just a game to you, isn’t it?’ Rampage asks, while Wonder Man leaps upwards, ‘…this time should settle it’ he thinks to himself.
‘Then it’s time you learned about pain! About reality!’ Rampage exclaims as he leaps towards the Beast, who calls out for Simon - and on cue, Wonder Man arrives on the rooftop, and punches Rampage backwards. ‘Finally!’ the Beast exclaims. Wonder Man continues to punch Rampage and tells the Beast that he is sorry this took so long. ‘But no harm done, I guess’ Wonder Man remarks. ‘None at all’ the Beast replies, adding that all in all, this was a pleasant diversion for them - when suddenly, a brick chimney is thrown at the Beast, striking him in the back of his head. Rampage takes flight as Wonder Man turns his attention to his fallen friend. ‘Get up, Hank! Open your eyes! Hank, this isn’t funny!’ Simon calls out, but gets no response from the motionless Beast.
‘Not funny, Williams? The desperate and the angry, rising off the streets to ruin your pampered playboy games? We think it’s very funny!’ a voice calls out. Wonder Man spins around, and sees Rampage, along with several others in matching armor flying before him. ‘Why not laugh along with Rampage…and his Recession Raiders?’


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Tough Measures
‘Rampage - if the Beast is dead -’ Wonder Man a.k.a. Simon Williams threatens as he holds the motionless body of Hank McCoy a.k.a. the Beast in his arms, on a rooftop in Los Angeles, while Rampage and his army, the Recession Raiders, hover in the air before him. ‘What’ll you do, “Wonder Man”? What can you do to me - and the others like me - that the world hasn’t done already?’ Rampage asks, before swooping downwards and punching Wonder Man hard in the face: ‘Nothing!’ Rampage shouts. ‘The world destroyed my business - drove me to crime - threw me in jail and then to the streets - I’ve got nothing to fear!’ Rampage exclaims as he starts to fly away. Wonder Man sets the Beast down and tells his good friend to hold on. ‘I’m getting you out of here, but I can’t risk it until I’ve cleared out - CLARKE!’ Wonder Man shouts as he takes to the air, jumping after Rampage.
‘I don’t care what the world did to you - or what you did to yourself - I just want you and your lunatics out of here!’ Wonder Man declares as he punches Rampage several times. ‘Jumped as high as you can, ain’t you boy?’ Rampage remarks as he smacks Wonder Man in the back of his neck. ‘Time to go down’ Rampage exclaims as Wonder Man falls back onto the rooftop. ‘Get out of my way!’ Wonder Man shouts as he leaps upwards, and Rampage tells him to give it up, as they have the suits now. ‘You’ve got - nothing!’ Wonder Man exclaims as he spins around and smacks one of the Recession Raiders in the face. He knocks another one back, while Rampage tells his army to get away from Wonder Man, that they mustn’t get themselves killed just to prove something. ‘Hit him where he’s weakest - right in his friendship!’ Rampage declares, pointing at the motionless Beast.
‘Got it!’ one of the Recession Raiders exclaims as he flies downwards towards the Beast. ‘NO! Hank!’ Wonder Man exclaims, but as he moves to go and help his friend, Rampage attacks him from behind, telling Wonder Man that this is pointless, that he should be on their side. ‘We’re both victims! You know! Technologists - creators - ruined by -’Rampage begins, while his Raider lands beside the Beast. ‘Shut up!’ Wonder Man exclaims as he knocks Rampage back. ‘There’s only one victim here -’ Wonder Man adds, while the Raider calls out to one of his comrades and knocks the Beast towards him. ‘HANK!’ Wonder Man calls out. ‘All right! Jim Plunkett time, homeboy!’ the Raider calls out as he catches the Beast mid-air. ‘Keep away! Keep away!’ one of the Raiders exclaims as he throws the Beast to one of his comrades. Wonder Man looks on in horror, wondering what he should do, as Hank is already hurt, and if he charges the Recession Raiders, they will throw Hank. ‘But if I don’t charge…’ Simon thinks to himself.
‘Whoops! It’s a high one, bro!’ a Raider calls out as he throws the Beast so high that his comrade doesn’t catch him. ‘Oh, Lord…oh, Lord…’ Simon exclaims as he leaps downwards. ‘Give me speed…I jumped as hard as I could, Lord…give me speed’ Simon utters, while hoping that Hank will flatten out, as he is currently falling to the ground head-first. ‘Just a little…’ Simon calls out, when he reaches Hank and grabs him by his ankle, pulling Hank upwards so that they are at the same level - and instant before they hit the ground so hard that the road shatters and explodes into the air.
‘Hank? Are you okay, buddy? You alive?’ Simon calls out as he emerges from the rubble, pulling the Beast with him. He puts his hand to Hank’s chest and feels a heartbeat. ‘Now I gotta get you to -’ Simon tells Hank, but Rampage and his Recession Raiders appear. ‘Where, Williams? A nice private hospital?’ Rampage calls out. ‘Where they give such good care to privileged boys like you?’ Rampage exclaims. He and his comrades close in around Wonder Man, as Rampage declares that Wonder Man wouldn’t go where he was sent - County - in the jail ward. ‘I’m going, Clarke - try and stop me’ Wonder Man snarls through gritted teeth, before he takes Hank in his arms and leaps away from Rampage and the Recession Raiders.
‘Come on! We can still he him! No way he can jump as fast as we can fly in these -’ one of the Raiders calls out, watching Wonder Man jump away. ‘No’ Rampage calls out. He removes his hood and tells his comrades that it is fun playing with these suits, especially satisfying for him, after having his company, and the patent for the suit, taken from him. He tells his Recession Raiders that he is pleased to see them learning to use the suits so quickly, although Paco has to learn his own strength. ‘Sorry, man. Used to play ball in high school, you know?’ Maco remarks. Rampage tells the Raiders that he doesn’t expect them to go from the street to combat perfection, only to follow his orders. He declares that they need to regroup, as he has a new idea - an idea on how the suits might help them bring a little economic justice to these tough times.
Meantime, at a hospital, ‘How will he be, Doctor?’ Wonder Man asks. The doctor points out that the Beast is pretty banged up, so it is hard to say where it will go, but that he is putting up a fight. ‘I only wish all my trauma patients were mutants’ she adds. Simon tells Hank to keep fighting, that he can’t let this break him - not them being stupid, being cocky. ‘It’s fun to loosen up, like you said. Plat life as a game…sometimes. But you’ve got to know when to be serious, bud’ Simon exclaims. ‘Like now. You fight and I’ll bring down those -’ Simon begins, when he suddenly hears some commotion coming from outside the room. ‘But I have to see Simon Williams!’ someone exclaims. The doctor declares that there are no visitors in this ward, and asks ‘Who let you in here?’
Simon enters the corridor, to see Ginger Beach and her brother “Spider” arguing with the doctor. Ginger exclaims that Dr Lemke let her in, to which the doctor mutters ‘Ah, it comes clear. Well, now you’re dealing with a doctor who thinks with her brain, not his -’ she is interrupted as Simon calls out to Ginger. Ginger and Spider go over to Simon as he asks them what they are doing here. Ginger explains that she saw the news, that Simon was in a big fight, and then seen at the hospital. ‘They said you were busting up whole buildings and these dudes were flying!’ Spider exclaims. ‘Was it amazing?’ Ginger asks. ‘I heard there were seven of them! Did you beat them all? Was it incredible?’ Ginger asks excitedly. ‘Who got hurt? Is it -’ Ginger begins, when Simon suddenly snaps at her, telling her to shut up, that this isn’t a game. ‘Do you understand that? A friend of mine got hurt!’ he exclaims. ‘Oh. Is it permanent? Will he die?’ Ginger asks.
Simon turns away from her and he replies ‘I don’t think so. Thank God’, to which Ginger asks him why he doesn’t get into the excitement of it. ‘Jeez, Simon, if you’re going to walk a tightrope, don’t hang an emotional net under yourself, you know?’ Ginger tells him. ‘Ginger, you can’t -’ Simon begins, when suddenly, another female voice calls out to him, and he turns to see Alex Flores approaching him. ‘Simon, I heard on the radio that you were -’ Alex begins, but Simon declares that he is not hurt, that it is someone else. ‘Now let me do something about it!’ he shouts as he turns and strides away.
‘He’s upset. What happened?’ Alex asks. Ginger replies that she doesn’t know, before asking ‘How do you know Simon?’, so Alex explains that she is a writer and they met on set. ‘Why would you be a writer? You’re too good looking to be a writer’ Ginger replies. ‘My parents didn’t have a mirror when I was growing up’ Alex remarks. ‘I guess writing wrecks your eyes, hm?’ Ginger suggests. Adjusting her glasses, Alex states that she just wears them for affectation, before asking ‘You’re an actress, aren’t you, sweetie?’. This causes Ginger to smile and she asks ‘How’d you ever guess?’ ‘Just the sharp eyes of the writer, dear’ Alex replies, before excusing herself as she goes to check on their mutual friend. ‘You just gonna stand there and let her go after him?’ Spider asks his sister. ‘I’m the Michael Jordan of the business, little bro. let somebody else take the rebound’ Ginger replies, adding that when it comes time to score, she will have the ball in her hands.
‘Blast it! Nothing opens!’ Simon mutters as he has difficulty opening a window. ‘Hate to smash a hospital window, but -’ he tells himself, when suddenly a hospital staff member tells him to leave the window alone. ‘With a floor full of overmedicated depressed patients you want to open a fifth-floor window?’ the staff member asks, before motioning to the stairs. ‘Blast it. Most heroes would just bull right through. Sometimes I’m such a good-guy, I can’t stand my -’ Simon mutters to himself, before Alex finds him. ‘Yo, Williams!’ she calls out. ‘What do you want?’ Simon mutters. ‘Don’t let me delay you, Simon…but I want to apologize if I got in your way back there. I was just worried’ Alex tells him. Simon turns to Alex and tells her not to apologize, and admits that he lost it when his friend got hurt. ‘We were in the Avengers together, shared a lot of scary times, and now…’ his voice trails off.
‘It must be tough, being you’ Alex remarks. ‘What?’ Simon asks her. Alex reveals that she has been doing some research on him. ‘I hope you don’t mind’ she adds, before announcing that she knows hr was in a death-like state for so long, and that she knows about his brother being a killer called the Grim Reaper. ‘It must be…’ Alex begins, but Simon puts a finger to her lips and tells her that he doesn’t talk about those things, before thanking her for caring anyway. ‘Yeah. I guess I can’t really understand. So…well, I’m just glad I’m a normal human being’ Alex remarks. ‘That’s funny. I’m glad you’re a normal human being, too’ Simon replies as he puts his hand on hers. Alex offers to drive Simon where he needs to go, but he tells her that his is jumping. ‘You can survive in LA without a car, you know…if you’ve got ionic powers’ Simon replies, while smiling and telling Alex to watch the news and root for him. ‘Oh, I’ll root for you, Simon Williams. But I don’t know if I can handle watching the news’ Alex replies.
With that, Simon jumps away across the buildings, and tells himself that he doesn’t know what Rampage is up to or how he is going to handle the Recession Raiders. ‘But I will. I have to. Just got to focus. Give it everything - for once’ Simon thinks to himself.
Meanwhile, the Recession Raiders are gathered in a building, and the one whose real name is August alerts Clarke - Rampage - to the fact that there are cops surrounding the building, with choppers hovering outside. Rampage tells his “brother” to relax. ‘Let them come closer…so when we pull out we can do a little more damage. And gain a little more publicity’ he explains. ‘Publicity for what?’ August asks. ‘For customers. I know countries that will give us refuge if I promise to develop American technology for them’ Clarke reveals, adding that they will make millions on the international black market off the high-tech they are liberating from Pactech. The Recession Raiders are filling sacks with the various technology and equipment, while Rampage adds ‘The same countries who’ve given America it’s lousy balance of trade - and its recession - will pay me for American inventions they gobbled up through corporate piracy! Beautiful!’ he exclaims.
Rampage continues, claiming that he will turn his Recession Raiders into a super-army, then can return to drive out foreign investors and lead Americans to retake their economic destiny. ‘Hey, hey - I’m all for street people taking something back from the rich. But when you’re messing with the economies of poorer countries -’ August begins, but Rampage cuts him off, boasting that it will make them national heroes, that it will open the doors to the dreams he has nursed all these years, in prison and on the streets. ‘The dreams of technocracy. Power to the fittest! Wealth to the natural rulers of the modern world! The great inventors!’ Rampage exclaims, putting his hood back on and pumping his fist into the air.
Shortly, the Recession Raiders fly out of the Pactech building and Rampage announces that they will go and redistribute some power. ‘All right, Clarke. I’m in this deep…but I don’t know about this’ August remarks to himself, as the Recession Raiders start to attack the choppers. Weapons are fired from the choppers, but the bullets just bounce off the Raiders’ armor. ‘That’s it boys! Fire! Pit your technology against mine! It’s no contest!’ Rampage boasts as he flies up through one of the choppers, causing it to explode. ‘Clear out! Clear out! We can’t fight these -’ one of the soldiers calls out, but too late, as Rampage blasts into the chopper. ‘What now, Mr Clarke? What -’ one of the Raiders calls out, when suddenly, Wonder Man leaps towards him and latches on. ’Gotcha!’ Simon exclaims.
As the Raider begins to fall downwards, Wonder Man decides that he better take out the weak links first, as he can’t let Rampage stall him while the others attack.  ‘If I can just get his pack - off!’ Simon exclaims as he tears the jetpack from the Raider, who starts to free-fall. ‘Hang on! I’m -’ a Raider calls out as he swoops down towards his comrade. ‘Stupid’ Simon exclaims as he throws the jetpack at the Raider, and it explodes. The Raider falls to the ground just after Simon and the first Raider land with a thud. ‘Okay, two down…and a third…and a fourth?’ Simon thinks to himself as he sees two more Raiders fly towards him from different directions. Simon tells himself not to freak, not to overdo it, like usual. ‘This is why you asked Captain America for fighting lessons’ he reminds himself. ‘Just remember what he taught you. Take the guy’s force, swing the back leg…and pivot’ Simon thinks to himself as he grabs the first Raider, throwing him into the approaching second Raider, and they fall down together.
‘Amateurs’ Simon smiles, while up above, Rampage calls out to August and Ronnie, and tells them they are last, ‘Finish him!’ he orders. Ronnie remarks to August that this was supposed to be fun, that Clarke didn’t say somebody would be beating on them. ‘It’s always the same way. They tell you you’re fighting for your own…then all of a sudden it’s a rich man’s war…but a poor man’s fight’ August declares, before Wonder Man suddenly jumps towards them. ‘What do we do?’ Ronnie asks. ‘What we do, brother…is we keep the suits!’ August replies as he and Ronnie turn and fly away. ‘August! What are you doing?’ a furious Rampage calls out. Wonder Man watches them fly away and wonders if it is a trick, but decides it isn’t, not with the way Clarke is screaming.
‘So what -’ Wonder Man thinks to himself, before he is hit in the back by a flagpole, the American flag still clinging to it. Simon falls onto a rooftop, and sees Rampage up above him. Simon tells himself that this isn’t a maneuver that Cap would want him using, but he does it anyway, and hurls the flagpole at Rampage, striking him in the jetpack. ‘No! My jets!’ Rampage exclaims as he begins to plummet towards City Hall below. This concerns him, and he cuts the engines to his jet pack. He lands on a rooftop. Wonder Man joins him, ‘Now, Clarke…’ Simon calls out. ‘Have you forgotten, Williams? Been a pampered muscleman of this moron society so long…you’ve forgotten how it felt to lose your company - your inventions - your money?’ Rampage asks.
Wonder Man replies that he hasn’t forgotten, and that he hasn’t forgotten losing friends, and losing his life for a while. ‘I’ve got a friend at the brink right now - thanks to you. Next to that - money’s nothing’ Simon tells Clarke, who exclaims ‘Ha! There are no friends when the money’s gone!’ and he aims a punch at Wonder Man, who decides to cut the argument and channel his anger, focussing it, not to let Clarke make him think of what he has lost. Simon blocks the punch and shoves his elbow into Clarke’s face, while telling himself to remember what he has got and what he can lose. ‘Remember Hank!’ Simon thinks to himself. He continues to punch Rampage, and starts tearing at his armor. ‘No - no - no’ Rampage utters as Simon dodges his punch. ‘Yes! Simon exclaims as he bounds back up and kicks Rampage in the chest - knocking him off the rooftop, he plummets downwards, and lands with a massive splash in the water fountain below.
‘Remember what life is for’ Simon declares, before he leaps off the rooftop. He knows that the cops are all over those other guys, and the guys in the lab smocks seem to be telling the cops how to defuse the suits. ‘Must be the Pactech boys’ Simon thinks to himself. He realizes that the two who got away are long gone, but that they should run out of power soon enough and won’t know how to recharge, or so he hopes. He decides to report them to the cops later, but in the meantime, he has to go check on poor Hank.
‘“Poor Hank” my ionic butt!’ Simon exclaims as he enters the hospital room where Hank is sitting up in bed talking to Ginger and Spider. ‘And then what, Hankie?’ Ginger asks as she leans into him. ‘Then I was laid low by a guided chimney, darling, a veritable brick-storm creased my blue noggin’ Hank exclaims. ‘Coool! Do you need a sidekick? I could dye my hair blue - and I’d be the Beastling!’ Spider gasps. ‘Oh, well. As a great man once said: “Life is what yez makes it, brudda”!’ Simon smiles.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, ‘What have you heard about this Rampage?’ a woman standing in the shadows asks. A man in a suit tells her that Rampage is apparently a technologist named Clarke, who is bitter at the corporate world and needs money, power and revenge to validate himself. The woman decides that that sounds workable, and tells the man to arrange fro his bail, defense and employment. The woman steps out of the shadows She smiles and tells the man to keep the name Lotus out of it….


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Operation Galactic Storm part 4, Shared Space
Captain Atlas of the alien Kree empire has managed to snare the famed Nega-Bands of the deceased Kree champion, Captain Marvel, before his Shi’ar enemies could. Using them to escape the cosmic crusader, Quasar, Atlas now finds himself face to face with the ionic Avenger, Wonder Man.
‘WHERE AM I?’ Att-Las booms as he punches Simon “Wonder Man” Williams in the face, knocking the powerful member of the Avengers West Coast backwards in one of the living areas of the Palos Verdes Compound. ‘How did you bring me here? What have you done with Dr Minerva?’ Captain Atlas demands as Simon falls over the back of a sofa. ‘What have you done with Rick Jones?’ Wonder Man enquires. But Captain Atlas warns Wonder Man not to trifle with him, and demands to know where Dr Minerva is, and where he is now. ‘TELL ME!’ Att-Las shouts. “Captain Atlas” “Dr Minerva” Simon mutters to himself, before standing up and telling the Kree warrior that there is only one thing he can tell him: ‘You and your friends have really stupid names!’ Simon exclaims as he punches Att-Las, knocking him backwards.
But the powerful men soon burst out of the living area wall and into the open space. ‘Do not mock us, little man! Do not mock the Kree!’ Att-Las declares. Realizing he is up against the Kree, Simon thinks that he has really blown this bodyguard gig. Simon knows that some Kree soldiers tried to kidnap Rick once already, and decides that it looks like this is a space-war in the making. ‘All I had to do was keep Rick safe - but now he’s somehow switch places with a crazed Kree super-soldier!’ ‘Where am I? Who are you?’ Att-Las asks, so Wonder Man remarks ‘You really don’t know? You’re on Earth! And at the moment you’re wrestling with -’ he begins, until Att-Las kicks Simon over, ‘EARTH!’ he shouts, before taking to the air, announcing that he has no business on this backwater planet. ‘I must find Dr Minerva…and bring her these Nega-Bands!’ Att-Las declares. ‘I was going to say, Wonder Man!’ Simon calls out, introducing himself, while wondering what Nega-Bands are.
‘What do you mean, “Nega-Bands”?’ Quasar a.k.a. Wendell Vaughn, the cosmic Avenger asks Rick Jones on a moon floating around the planet Saturn, where Captain Mar-Vell’s tomb resides. ‘How many meanings for “Nega-Bands” are there, Quasar?’ Rick Jones asks from inside a quantum bubble, created courtesy of Quasar to keep Rick alive on the moon. Rick explains that the Nega-Bands are the metal “clangers” that Captain Mar-Vell had on his wrists, the ones he used to bang together to trade places with Rick back when Mar-Vell was stick in the Negative Zone. Quasar remarks out that the Nega-Bands Atlas and Minerva where stealing from Mar-Vell’s dead body when he caught them.
‘And a fine job of catching you did, didn’t you? Gave him the time to put the bands on a clang them…which means I’m in deep space with you, while he’s on Earth’ Rick points out. Quasar knows that Atlas must be fighting Wonder Man, and asks Rick if he has any way of reversing the switch. ‘No such luck, chum’ Rick replies, explaining that there is only one pair of Nega-Bands, so Att-Las is on Earth until he wants to come back. ‘Well, if Simon can handle him, that could actually save us a lot of trouble…but if Simon can’t…I don’t want to think about it’ Quasar’s announces.
Back at Palos Verdes, Wonder Man flies after Att-Las, deciding that his Kree opponent is a little addled and not flying too fast, and not thinking about him, either. ’Always a mistake’ Simon tells himself as he reaches Att-Las and attacks him, using his body weight to force the Kree warrior to the ground. But Att-Las punches Wonder Man in the face, telling him it was a noble effort for a human, before boasting that he is learning to use the power of these Nega-Bands now, announcing that he will fly too quickly and too high for any human for follow. But as he takes off, Captain Atlas soon has Wonder Man gripping on to his ankle. ’Well, if it’s a ride you want…I’ll give you a ride!’ Captain Atlas exclaims as he flies onwards, while Simon tells himself to hang on and wait for an opening.
Wonder Man soon gets an opening, as the powerhouses are the city now, and Wonder Man wraps an arm around Captain Atlas’s neck. But Atlas declares that he wearies of this, and tells Wonder Man that he is no threat to him. ’But I would like you off my back!’ Atlas exclaims as he shoves his elbow into Simon’s ribs, and then punches him in the face. But Wonder Man hangs on, and attempts to reach for the Nega-Bands. ‘Let…me…’ Att-Las begins, before the Nega-Bands clang together, and Captain Atlas vanishes - replaced by Rick, who finds himself in Simon’s arms. ‘What the…’ Wonder Man begins ‘…heck?’ Rick concludes. Simon asks where Captain Atlas has gone, to which Rick replies ‘Ask Quasar, he’s probably real happy with you right now’, before Rick turns, breaking away from Simon’s arms, he declares that he has had enough of his “protection” for one day.
‘Oh, no!’ Rick gasps as he realizes he is high in the air above the city. ‘NO!’ Rick screams as he begins to plummet to the ground. ‘Just hold tight - let me get my body around you to take the impact - and relax’ Wonder Man declares as he surges downwards to grab Rick, who asks ‘How am I supposed to -’.
Meantime, ‘What…? How…?’ Captain Atlas gasps as he finds himself aboard a small vessel, where Quasar, and the inactive Avenger called Starfox a.k.a. Eros, one of the Eternals, have captured Dr Minerva. ‘Atlas! Where’s Rick?’ Quasar exclaims while maintaining a quantum beam around Minn-Erva, holding her prisoner. ‘Forget Rick! Get him!’ Starfox declares, while Minn-Erva urges Atlas to get out of here, for the Kree. ‘But how do I -?’ Atlas wonders, before smiling as he looks at the Nega-Bands, and clangs them together again. ‘I’ve got him, Starfox!’ Quasar declares as he fires a quantum-snare around Atlas - only for Rick to take his place, finishing off his sentence from Earth, ‘- relax?’, while looking shocked that he is in outer space again. ‘Oh, no!’ Wendell gasps.
‘Oh, yes! Perfect! Att-Las exclaims as he finds himself in Wonder Man’s arms, plummeting to the ground. ‘Wait a minute -’ Simon begins, before they slam into the street below, causing a large explosion. ‘I don’t know how you pulled that - but as long as I’ve got the advantage!’ Simon declares as he smacks Atlas in the face, then throws him into the side of a building. ‘I’m going to -’ Simon begins, raising a fist to the Kree warrior, but Atlas clangs his wrists together once more, and Rick takes his place. ‘NO!’ Rick shouts as Wonder Man’s fist approaches him at great speed - ‘Oh - geez!’ Simon exclaims as he pulls his fist back. He grabs Rick by his shoulders and asks him if he is okay, and what is going on here.
‘What do you think, Rick? Rick?’ Quasar calls out aboard Starfox’s ship, only to see that Att-Las has returned once more. ‘HEY!’ Wendell declares as he releases a quantum-claw to try and snare Att-Las once more. ‘Ha!’ the Kree warrior laughs, clanging the Nega-Bands together just in time, escaping back to Earth, where he punches Simon in the face. ‘NOW -’ Simon begins to say, but before he can act, Atlas clangs the Nega-Bands together again, and Rick is brought back to Earth. ‘NO!’ Rick calls out, waving his hands in front of Simon. An instant later though, Atlas has returned, and he punches Wonder Man backwards. Wonder Man roars as he gets up, and moves back towards Rick, ‘WAIT!’ Rick calls out, so Simon does, only for Atlas to return, and punch Simon the face, calling him a fool.
‘ATLAS -’ Wonder Man begins. ‘Simon!’ Rick calls out as he is replaced once more. ‘Fool again!’ Atlas declares as he yet again switches places, and grabbing Wonder Man, slams his face into the road. Simon looks up as Atlas moves backwards. ‘If I could land just one…good…’ Simon begins, but Atlas switches places with Rick once again. ‘Blast it. Stay there, Rick’ Wonder Man exclaims, but Rick replies that he can’t, while Simon announces that he is starting to get Atlas’s timing. ‘Tired yet, “Wonder Man”?’ Atlas asks as he reappears, and punches Simon in the face, although Simon was able to “roll” with that one, moving his face in rhythm with the punch. ‘This is it, Atlas!’ Wonder Man booms, as he begins to fake a charge, and time Atlas.
Atlas smirks, and clangs the Nega-Bands together again, teleporting away. Simon grabs Rick by his shirt, despite Rick pleading ‘NO!’ as Simon raises a fist - and instant later, Rick is gone, and Captain Atlas has returned, only to find himself at the mercy of Wonder Man, who moves his punch forward, hitting Captain Atlas so hard that the Kree warrior falls back with the single powerful blow. Simon smiles, “Duck season” he tells himself, before taking Atlas in his arms and keeping Atlas’s arms apart, begins to fly back to the Palos Verdes Compound.
Aboard Starfox’s vessel, Quasar places a quantum field around Rick so that he can breathe, not to mention hold him in place, whether it be Rick or Atlas that needs to be kept in check. ‘Meaning we capture him, or Wonder Man can handle him. Either way, we should stop him’ Starfox remarks. ‘And either way - you will fail to stop the Kree!’ Dr Minerva boasts. Rick announces that he doesn’t care who is stopping who - he just wants to be handed over to the Hulk when they get back. ‘And keep me away from that idiot, Wonder Man!’ he adds.
Meantime, far away, an alien with blue skin, white hair and a purple costume stands on surface, ‘Can there be a bleaker planetoid in the cosmos?’ he asks himself, deciding that it is a fitting size for his contemplation, for it mirrors the emptiness of his eternal soul. ‘What sense in being an immortal, if one knows not from whence he came or where he goes?’ the alien asks himself, when suddenly, he hears a voice: ‘You who have been called Demon Druid…’. The alien looks up to the cosmos, ‘Who calls me?’ he enquires, as he sees the horrid Supreme Intelligence. ‘I know who you are. I know who your people are. Come to the Kree galaxy and all will be revealed. Come…Ultimus!’ the Supreme Intelligence tells the alien.
Back at the Palos Verdes Compound, ‘Give it up! It’s over!’ Simon tells Captain Atlas as the alien tries to struggle free. Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America of the East Coast Avengers, and Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch, one of Simon’s current teammates and closest friends, walk into the meeting room, and Wanda asks Simon what he is doing. ‘This war may be over for me - but never for the Kree!’ Att-Las exclaims. Simon tells Wanda that he is looking for a muzzle. ‘This clown won’t -’ he begins, while Quasar, Rick Jones and Starfox enter the room, with Dr Minerva still Quasar’s prisoner. ‘Did Atlas shrug, Simon?’ Quasar enquires, while Simon tells Quasar and Starfox that he is glad that they made it back safe. ‘You’re glad?’ Rick mutters.
‘The gorgeous thing in the energy cocoon must be -’ Simon begins, while Captain Atlas calls out to Minn-Erva, asking her if she has been harmed. Minn-Erva doesn’t answer, while Att-Las boasts that somehow, they will escape the bonds, as Quasat throws his quantum energy bonds around Captain Atlas, and traps his hands apart as well. ‘That should keep the Nega-Bands apart. But these two will be hard to hold, Cap’ Quasar tells his commanding officer. Cap agrees, and points out that they don’t have the jail facilities at the Compound, so they will have to come up with something clever. ‘Think you can manage to stay on the planet for a while, Jones?’ Wonder Man asks, smiling. ‘Think you can avoid getting me killed for a while, Williams?’ Rick mutters back.
‘Is that how you show your gratitude?’ Wanda asks, annoyed. ‘Simon battled Captain Atlas for you, young man - and defeated him, with no help from you!’ the Scarlet Witch points out. ‘But…but I just…’ Rick begins, dumbfounded. Wanda points at Rick and suggests he remembers that he is alive, and without Simon, might not have been. Simon tells Wanda that it is okay, that Rick is always like this, but Wanda turns away and tells Simon not to reprimand her, and that if he won’t defend himself, be glad someone will. Rick smirks and tells Wonder Man that he must have something going for him if he has the Scarlet Witch that stuck on him. ‘She…is…not…stuck on me! Do you understand that? I carried a torch for that woman long enough! Okay!’ Simon shouts, adding that he would know if Wanda felt anything like that for him. ‘At least…I think I’d know’ Simon remarks.
Captain America, Starfox and Quasar are seated around the Avengers West Coast conference table, and Cap asks Wonder Man to join them. Cap stands up and announces that the gravity of this situation should be apparent to them all by now - the Kree and the Shi’ar - two of the greatest empires of the known universe - are moving towards war, with this solar system somehow caught in the middle of it. Cap declares that he is calling for a bicoastal meeting of all Avengers - in New York. Wonder Man tells Cap that is a good move, but that he suspects they are going to end up going a lot further than New York. ‘Am I dragging this goof with me?’ Simon asks, motioning to Rick. ‘I hope not. I’d feel safer being locked in a closet!’ Rick replies.
Cap replies that as matters look, they will need Wonder Man for far more than just body-guarding, and suggests that it is time Rick returned to the Pantheon. Rick smiles and puts his hands together as if he was praying. ‘Oh, thank you, Captain America. I swear, I’ll buy US savings bonds for the rest of my life!’ Rick exclaims. ‘You do that. I’ve got some stuff to take care of’ Wonder Man remarks as he leaves the room, but Rick runs after him: ‘Hey!’ he calls out. ‘Yeah? What?’ Simon replies, frowning. ‘About that fight with Atlas…that was a nice trick you pulled, man. That timing, dude’ Rick smiles. The men shake hands, and Simon tells Rick to forget about Wanda, and that he would have done it for anybody.
Shortly, at his rented apartment, Simon is packing some things, and speaking on the phone to Neal Saroyan, his agent, telling him that there is no way around it, he will have to put all his auditions on hold for a while. ‘Simon, Simon, listen to me. I’m telling you this, not as you agent, but as your friend -’ Neal begins. ‘If course you are, Neal’ Simon mutters, while Neal tells him that if he wants to be an actor, he has to put acting over everything. ‘Neal, I do want to be an actor…’ Simon begins, while Neal, reclining in his chair at his office listens. ‘..but a space war raging through our solar system may prove to be a little more important than me landing another part on an episode of Doogie Howser’ Simon declares.
Neal asks Simon if he can’t stall the war for a little while, as the sidekick angle of his is paying big dividends, that Spider has got a nibble from Geffen on a record deal. ‘I’m telling you as someone who loves you -’ Neal begins, while Simon replies ‘Of course you are, Neal’ and slams the phone down, before he picks it up again and calls his companion Alex Flores. ‘Well, hel-lo! That tone in your voice must mean you’re canceling our lunch date’ Alex remarks. ‘New York, huh? Movie business or super hero business? Super hero, huh? You know, someday you’ll have to decide what really matters to you’ Alex exclaims. Simon tells her that she sounds like his agent. ‘Ouch. If that ever happens again, tie me up and tape my mouth shut’ Alex replies, adding that she is just disappointed, for there is something she has to talk to him about.
‘Something big?’ Simon asks, to which Alex replies ‘Oh, about four-foot-ten’. ‘Huh?’ Simon asks. ‘Never mind’ Alex tells him, asking Simon to call her when he gets back, and enquires as to whether he has any idea when they will be. ‘Not really’ Simon replies. ‘Not at all. That’s how it is with wars’. He hangs up and picks up his bag that he has packed. He checks around his apartment, tells himself that the refrigerator is empty, lights are off and faucet is tight, with the answering machine on and windows locked. ‘No wonder super heroes don’t have pets’ Simon decides. Outside, he meets his landlady, Gloria Angel, and gives her the next month’s rent in advance. Gloria takes the money and tells Simon to call her if he thinks he will be gone that long. ‘I don’t think they have phones where I’m heading, Gloria. At least, no phones that’ll reach LA’ he replies, before taking to the air. Gloria calls after him, wondering where he is going, but she gets no response. ‘Where do you go, Mr Williams? What amazing places could you take me?’ she remarks.
Meanwhile, in orbit around the sun, crew members aboard a certain space station begin rushing about, with someone calling ’Evacuate! Evacuate!’, and another asks what is happening. ’It’s a solar flare - and it’s heading straight for Starcore!’ he replies, as a massive flare from the sun approaches the science station….