 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
MARVEL FANFARE presents
Roster Wrangle
(MARVEL FANFARE
#141)
Tom Lynch
August Year Five
* * *
For only the second time, the entire Rangers team gathered in their strategy room. The lawyer had departed, but the papers he had brought with him lay on the table. And the room didn’t feel too good with the news hanging over them.
“That’s it, then,” Julia said. “I can’t afford to fight this, and I can’t afford to pay. And in any case, I don’t want to fight it. I don’t remember planting any bomb.*”
“I’m not sure you could fight it, either,” Owen said, his voice sympathetic. “You’ve seen the surveillance tape; it really does look like you. It even moves like you.”
“What you see is not always something you can rely on,” Miracle Man offered. The illusionist smiled grimly around the table. “I should know.”
“That doesn’t exactly help our case, though, does it?” Jack Gersen snapped. “Well, Your Honour, I didn’t do it… we’ve got our resident illusionist here to prove I didn’t do it, so why would I have turned up looking like me?”
“Yes, all right,” Drew snapped. “Look, the fact remains that there’s some pretty substantial evidence against you, Spider-Woman. So we have two questions; what can we do about it, and where did this evidence come from? Do we have someone pretending to be Spider-Woman running around Austin? If so-“
“If so, it’s pretty fast work,” Victoria pointed out. “The roster was a secret until two days ago. Before that… well, there was Force Works, but apart from that, I gather your sphere of operations was Denver…”
“Yeah, basically,” Julia said. I can’t cope with this, she thought. I want Slade near me again… but after the Commission interfered with Force Works, I lost him… And I’m going to lose another team, I know it. I’ve got to… I’ve got to stop being Spider-Woman, period. This just isn’t working… “Look… guys… I can’t deal with all this. I’m afraid… I’m going to have to quit the Rangers.”
“What?” It was Drew who got there first. Two days into the new version of the team and a member was leaving. That was quicker than Hulk quitting the Avengers…
“I… I just can’t… If I stay in costume, I have to fight this case. I can’t… and I need to spend time with my daughter… I shouldn’t have got back into costume after the Works…” Julia was babbling now, desperately trying to explain her position. She got up, close to crying, and ran from the meeting room.
The remaining members of the Rangers looked at each other.
“Right…”
Julia finished shoving her clothes into her suitcase again and zipped it shut. Then she turned to leave and found Drew blocking her way. It was enough to worry most people; Drew Daniels being a tall, bulky man who practically filled the doorway.
“Are you sure about this, Spider-Woman?”
“Yes. And I’m not Spider-Woman. Not any more. Now, please, let me out; I’ve got to pick up my daughter!”
“Look… please… can we just talk about this?” He reached up and undid his mask, letting Julia see his entire face. Not that the mask had concealed much… it was simply a thin strip with eyeholes. “Person to person.”
His voice shifted, becoming less commanding and more
compassionate. “My name is Drew Daniels.”
The phone rang and rang. Guy MacLeod blearily opened his eyes and squinted at his alarm clock. Nearly ten thirty. He’d slept through the alarm. Great.
Not that he had anywhere to be, he reminded himself as he sat up. He reached out a strong black hand and picked up the phone.
“Yeah?”
“Mr MacLeod?”
“That’s me.”
“I’m, ah, Shooting Star. With the Rangers?”
“Of course,” he said smoothly, his eyes suddenly developing a new level of awareness. “What can I do for you, Miss Starr?”
“Well, uh, I thought I should tell you… The team’s down one member, I’m afraid.”
“What? Who’s left.”
“Spider-Woman.”
“Indeed…” MacLeod frowned. “Leave this with me, Miss Starr. I’ll see what I can do about a replacement. My condolences…”
He put the phone down, vaguely aware she was still speaking, and snarled at his reflection in the mirror.
He knew exactly why Julia Carpenter had quit.
Mesmero…
Victoria cut the phone link with a puzzled expression on her face.
“Well,” she said. “I’m not so sure of that…”
The Miracle Man paused in his passage behind her. “What’s up, Shooting Star?”
“Mm?” She glanced back over her shoulder at the ex-villain. “Oh…” She waved a hand at the vidphone in a frustrated fashion. “It’s the moneyman.”
“MacLeod?” Stephen Dacord sat down in the chair next to her and folded his arms “What’s up?”
“Uh…” Victoria briefly wondered whether she could trust the illusionist, but brushed the thought aside. They were teammates, she told herself savagely. That bought him the benefit of the doubt. It had to. “Well, I just rang him to tell him about Spider-Woman leaving - I figured he had a right to know,” Stephen nodded, “and he was pretty short with me. He assumed we were asking for help, too. I’m starting to wonder about him.”
Miracle Man wasn’t. Miracle Man knew exactly who Guy
MacLeod truly was, the assumed name he bore when not bearing the
assumed name MacLeod. He knew how the group had come
together… But he also knew that to tell his teammates this
would be to inspire their distrust once more, and so he kept
quiet.
“Look… Drew. I’m sorry, but you’re not going to change my decision. My mind’s made up; it’s all been a mistake. I shouldn’t have got back together with Force Works, and I certainly shouldn’t have carried on afterward with… this. I don’t mean anything against you, or the rest of the team,” she added, hastily. “But I’m not going to be Spider-Woman any longer.”
She paused for a second, then continued, her voice less vehement now. “You’ve got the makings of a good team here anyway, and I don’t expect to stop hearing about the Rangers any time soon. But this court case… It made me realise I’ve got to step away from superheroism.”
Drew opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. He certainly hadn’t helped by this quick visit, and he might have made the situation worse, though it was difficult to tell. He nodded and retied his mask.
“If that’s the way you want it,” he said, stepping back out of the doorway. “But… If those charges get dropped and you change your mind, we’d be glad to have you back with us…”
Julia smiled at that. “Thanks. And I’m grateful. But no more Spider-Woman; she can be tracked down. It’s back to plain old Julia Carpenter for me now.” She picked the bag up again and froze, replaying the conversation in her head. “Uh… Drew, listen. If anyone gets in contact, asking how to find me, pretend I never told you my name, OK?”
The big man smiled and nodded. “I will. Goodbye,
then… Julia.”
Lazarus Jones - the man better known as Eclipse, strolled into Rangers Compound’s recreation room and cast a critical eye over the game of pool unfolding between Desert Fire and Bodyweight. Cascade, meanwhile, was sprawled over one of the sofas and reading something - Cosmo, probably, he thought with a mental sneer.
He dropped into an armchair near the group.
“You know, having to go by codenames in this base is really starting to piss me off. There’s only two people with less than three syllables in their codename, and I’m one of them!”
“What do you suggest we do?” Jack Gersen - Desert Fire - asked, as he snapped off a shot. “Come clean with our real names? When we’ve got a villain on the team?… Ah, crap.” This last as he found out he’d missed his shot.
“I’m not a villain,” Miracle Man said quietly as he entered the room. “Not any more. When the Cheemuzwa gods had me in their realm, I got taught a thing or two…”
“Speaking of the past,” Bodyweight joined in the conversation, “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
Miracle Man shrugged. “The Scourge? No… A lot of those killings were a cover-up.”
“For what?”
“Recruitment. I did some work for the Red Skull a couple of years back…”
“Oh, it just gets better, doesn’t it?” Gersen snarled. “Oh, wonderful. So you’ve gone up against the Fantastic Four… and a bunch of times, too… And you’ve worked for the world’s favourite disfigured Nazi?”
“Faking some of the other ‘recruitment’ shots,” the illusionist elaborated.
“Oh, great. The world’s got a bunch of supposedly dead super-villains walking around… I mean, a bunch more than we thought…” Gersen’s voice trailed off as he realigned his worldview once again. Having taken the steps to actually become a superhero, he was starting to realise how many and resilient were their enemies in a way SCN never quite managed to convey, though you had to applaud them for trying…
But until you took them on, until you made it your problem, you couldn’t understand.
“I can’t make you accept I’m not a criminal any more,” Miracle Man said softly. “All I can do is keep trying to prove it. Eventually you’ll accept it, I hope. But… My name is Stephen Dacord,” he said, his gaze switching to Lazarus. “I put my trust in you not to misuse this information. I don’t expect any of you to do the same for me.”
Desert Fire snorted. “Actually? I don’t care. All revealing your identity really does if you’re a hero is - possibly - put your family in danger. And my parents deserve whatever they get.” He glared around the room as if daring anyone to challenge that. “My name’s Jack Gersen.”
“Hello, Jack,” Stephen said, equably.
“You can call me Mr Gersen.”
The phone rang.
The hand that reached out to answer it was green, male, not superhumanly muscular, and neither covered in scales nor alien. It belonged, rather, to one of the foremost hypnotic mutants on the planet.
“Yes?”
“The money’s in your account, you bastard.”
Mesmero smiled like a cat with cream. “Mr ‘MacLeod’,” he said, heavily sarcastic. “How nice to hear from you. I hope you’re in good health?”
“I want her back on the team.”
“Really? After she quit so thoroughly, and in such distressing circumstances? Are you sure your team wouldn’t become suspicious?”
“What circumstances?” The voice had taken on an edge now. Mesmero diagnosed that he wasn’t yet in possession of the full details. He pictured the man trying to find out from the team, and smiled.
“I could perhaps supply you with a replacement - for a consideration.”
“What? - Oh, all right.” The voice was furious.
“In advance.”
Sharon Ventura sat back, turned the TV on, and relaxed. She had a routine now, and she tended to stick to it. It seemed to be the better course of action, these days.
But her money was running out in any case. Tomorrow, she promised herself; tomorrow she’d go to the UCW and see if she could get her old place back. After all, since then she’d fought with the Fantastic Four, with She-Hulk. That had to be worth some bucks as a crowd-puller.
There was a knock at the door. Definitely not part of her evening routine these days. She frowned and rose to answer it.
“Hel-“
She was cut off halfway through her greeting as her mind went blank. A green hand reached in through the doorway of her apartment and came to rest on her forehead.
It pushed, and she walked backward into her apartment obediently.
Mesmero shut the door, and Sharon Ventura - the one-time Ms. Marvel, the twice She-Thing - stood there helplessly.
And waited for him to tell her what to do.
Mesmero smiled. “Hello, Sharon…”
“…In any case,” MacLeod smiled, “I have been able to secure a replacement for your former colleague… and here she is… Sharon Ventura!”
“No codename?” Eclipse asked mildly.
“The original’s taken it back,” Sharon said, smiling. “And She-Thing doesn’t suit me as a name anymore… But I’m open to suggestions.”
“Something short,” Eclipse said, quickly.
Bodyweight and Cascade exchanged glances with each other, and smiled.
“Well… thank you, Mr MacLeod,” Drew said, rising to shake his hand. “We’ll do our best for you,” he continued, exchanging a concerned glance with Victoria over MacLeod’s shoulder. She’d been right, he felt; there was something odd about all this.
“I’m sure you will,” Guy smiled perfunctorily, then turned away. “Well, I’ll be going,” he said. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything…”
“…Sure,” Drew said. This was getting more
and more worrying…
Stephen Dacord sat in his room, lost in thought. He genuinely wasn’t sure how to deal with the situation the Rangers had found themselves in. Perhaps if he’d told them at the start -
Then the team would never have reformed. He’d almost certainly have lost his chance. It was difficult to prove to the press that you were reforming when you caught someone solo; they tended to assume you’d been in partnership and had simply betrayed your partner. Not exactly the image of trust he wanted to project…
But how could he tell them now?
And they needed to be told, he knew that. It was obvious to anyone who knew what he knew that the team was going to fall apart soon if the influence of ‘MacLeod’ was allowed to continue…
Spider-Woman had at least been a team leader, over with Force Works. She could have helped hold the team together…
But he was sure, now, that the Rangers were going to fall
apart, and sooner rather than later.
Julia Carpenter shut the door behind her and breathed a sigh of frustration.
She’d wanted to be part of the Rangers. She knew that; she remembered the feeling vividly. Though… She couldn’t quite remember, if truth be told, why she’d felt that way or that strongly.
And then she’d wanted to leave. And there was the bomb…
And she knew, in her heart of hearts, that she had planted the bomb. She just couldn’t remember where she’d got it from, or actually planting it, or why she’d done it…
But she’d known, watching that video feed, that it hadn’t been faked.
At the same time, she didn’t remember anything about it. That wasn’t a dichotomy that sat well with her.
She was going, eventually, to get to the bottom of the mystery. But she’d do it as Julia Carpenter, not as Spider-Woman. She just couldn’t afford the court case.
She stepped into her living room, and glanced in consternation at the figure who stood there, standing over Rachel…
It wasn’t Consuela.
And then her mind went blank.
Again.
Yup, we’re opening with Jason Trenner again…
It's the solo Rangers fan again! Interesting issue. The only reason I see that the rest of the team wasn't sued was because no one knows if they even have any money. I've run out of other teams to compare the group to..well except that they remind me a bit of the Slingers. Now on to the questions...
1) Speaking of the Slingers, is there any chance of the MV1 version of the team showing up?
2)Is there any chance of a Defenders/Rangers clash? At the moment there are four teams of Defenders running around(Clea's team, Lifeforce's team, Wasp's team and Dr. Strange's team), so maybe you have the Rangers fight one of them.
3) Is there any chance of the team going to Earth-A? Or Earth-S? Or the Ultraverse?
4)Is there any chance of the team fighting Omnivore?
5)Is there any chance of the Blue Marvel(the Thanos clone of the 1958 Avengers leader) joining the team?
6) Is there any chance of Marvel Girl joining the team? And maybe fight the Blue Marvel with the team?
7)Is there any chance of a guest appearance by the Guardians of the Galaxy?
8)Will Mockingbird show up sooner or later?
9)Is there any chance of the Rangers fighting Hybrid?
10)Is there any chance of Morningstar joining the team?
Sad to say, Jason, I’ve now locked down the plot and written most of the remaining issues of this run. (yeah, I got ahead of myself. Sue me.) So the answer to all ten questions is… Not in this first run. However, 7 is a definite possibility if I get a second run. And 8 is a definite impossibility - if she wasn’t brought back in the Hawkeye title, that’s good enough for me.
But I do want a second run, and a fair few of your suggestions thus far may well happen during that second run. This first one’s been chiefly about setting up the feel of the team… and yes, Stan Lee did it all in one issue, but he didn’t have so many teams to differentiate from.
I hope you’ll keep reading despite this… I assure you the pressure is getting higher from here on in…
Tom Lynch, kal.jerico@lineone.net
NEXT ISSUE
MacLeod’s real identity!