#36
| THE MS.
MARVEL GATEFOLD |
| Previously
... Ms. Marvel received the mysterious brown package that
Frank Gianelli sent from Houston. As she flew through the
city trying to sort out what the contents of the package
meant, she ran smack dab into HYDRA! |
| CAST OF
CHARACTERS |
 MS.
MARVEL - CAROL DANVERS was accidentally irradiated by the
Kree built Psyche-Magnitron, giving her powers and
turning her into the heroine, MS. MARVEL! Now, after a
lifetime that has seen her as a NASA security chief,
writer, magazine editor, intelligence operative, Avenger
and transformed into the cosmically powered heroine
BINARY, Carol has regained her Ms. Marvel identity and
powers and is the living embodiment of merged Kree/Human
genetic potential. |
| PARAMOUR and VELVET - Little
is known about the two female assassins except that they
wear the same costume, which includes a belt of tricks
around their waist. |
| NORTHERN
BEAR PRODUCTIONS |
Puzzle of the Package
written by Mark
Bousquet
"Imperious Rex!"
Ms. Marvel couldn't help but smile as she descended on a horde
of HYDRA troops alongside Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Being a hero
was normally a serious business, but here, in the middle of the
night, with no innocent bystanders around, alongside one of the
most powerful and classic heroes there were …
Well, she smiled, those HYDRA troops below are going to get
stomped on big time.
And they did. Namor and Ms. Marvel swooped down upon them,
defeating the twenty-odd men in no time. The only threat was
Viper and she had already high-tailed it out of there.
Carol finished off two HYDRA troopers and turned to watch
Namor chase a fleeing trooper across the front of the warehouse
that they were busy unloading supplies from. He moved fast and
assuredly - the guy in the green suit didn't have a chance. Carol
had to admit that she was impressed - and not just because of
Destiny's foretelling.*
* Destiny
foretold that Carol would have to choose between the love of a
soldier and a prince in MS. MARVEL 28
But she couldn't get involved with someone right on the heels
of the disappointment with Cap, destiny or not.
"It seems these HYDRA troopers were no match for the
Avenging Son and the Female Fury!" Namor bellowed as he
walked towards Carol.
"Nope, but then again, who could be?" she answered
his smile with one of her own. "What were you doing here
anyway, Namor? I don't believe in coincidence."
"I am in New York on business with Oracle, Inc.," he
explained. "We have several holdings down here on the pier
that I was checking on."
"Good thing you saw the HYDRA troops and came over,"
Ms. Marvel thanked him.
"I saw no sign of HYDRA until I was overhead," Namor
took a step closer to Carol. "I merely saw a beautiful woman
and could not keep myself away."
Carol smiled, "Oh really?"
"Yes," Namor added, "I have always found Viper
to be an extremely attractive, if dangerous, opponent."
Ms. Marvel shook her head and took to the sky, leaving a
grinning Namor behind.
OSTRANDERVILLE, TEXAS
Will Talltrees lay, in the dead of night, on a rise in the
southwestern plains of sand in Texas, his wolf companion at his
side.
"Easy, Lobo," the hero known as Red Wolf petted the
animal as they looked down upon a military installation that, by
all accounts, should not be here. It was a small hangar, covered
with camouflage to hide it from prying eyes. Will thought, for
the first time since they had broken up, that he wished the
Rangers were here to see this.
But those thoughts were for other times. Now was the time to
watch what would happen down inside the steel fenced perimeter
and see if perhaps he could get a glimpse inside the hangar.
Strange things had been happening in this section of desert and
Red Wolf would find out what the cause of those occurrences were.
NEXT MORNING
Carol rubbed the cobwebs from her eyes as she sat down to look
at the package she had received from J. Jonah Jameson.* She spent
hours looking at it the night before, but it all looked like a
jumbled mess to her then and she hoped that some time away would
do her some good.
* Last
Issue
It didn’t look like it did.
There was no note explaining what the press clippings, memos,
pictures - both sketches and photo, newspaper articles,
obituaries, maps and such were supposed to mean. The scribbled
notes which contained no name - but Carol was almost certain it
was from Frank Gianelli - and offered no explanations weren't
much help.
With all the talk of conspiracy and secret government cabals
and death lists and hit squads, Carol was almost willing to
believe that it was a hoax.
She really needed to get ahold of Gianelli and see what was up
- which, if the contents of this package were to be believed,
wouldn't be easy. But how to get ahold of Frank? She could call
the Bugle and see if they knew where he was working now, but that
would tip Jameson off that this was newsworthy.
'I can't alert the Bugle, not now,' she thought to herself.
She knew she could go to the Avengers and check their files, but
… No, you can't leave the Mansion and then immediately go
running back there.
She sighed - there was one person she could call who would
help. Michael Rossi - SHIELD agent and ex-lover of Carol Danvers.
But her recent talks with him* had left her with the impression
that Michael might want to start something between them again.
And Carol didn't want that. Whatever her and Michael had once
shared, it was over now.
* See MS.
MARVEL 29 - 31 for the dinner details
Still … she dialed his number.
"Rossi here."
"Michael, hi, it's Carol," she spoke seriously.
Michael was a pro and would know by the tone of her voice that
this wasn't a social call. "I need a favor."
"For you? Anything."
"I need to find Frank Gianelli. He's an ex-reporter for
Woman Magazine when I was the EIC there. I think he's in Houston,
Texas, but I'm not sure."
"Carol," the voice in the headset spoke somberly,
"Frank Gianelli can't be in Houston - he's in Schenectady,
New York."
Carol's body went suddenly alive, "That was awfully
quick."
"I'm sorry, Carol … you haven't been around, so you
probably hadn't heard."
"Heard what?"
"Frank Gianelli died five months ago."
PLEXIKAARD, NORWAY
Plexikaard, Norway was a large town with a small population.
There were miles upon miles of thick forest where civilization
rarely tread. It would come as somewhat of a surprise to a
resident of Plexikaard that there was a cabin out in those woods,
but it would come as a total shock to find the cabin inhabited.
There's no telling the reaction if they knew that the people
living there were two female Assassins from another planet.
WHACK!
"You have failed me, Velvet!" Paramour shouted.
WHACK! "Do not think I failed to see your application of the
Edam Salve onto Ms. Marvel's face!"* WHACK! "How do you
answer this?"
* In MS.
MARVEL 34
Velvet said nothing and tried her best to not show the pain
that coursed through her body. She stood on the floor of the
cabin, her arms tied above her head and hung from the rafters
above and used every bit of training she knew to not show pain as
Paramour lashed her for insubordination.
"We are Grellian Assassins! The greatest killers in the
galaxy! We did not become that way by actions such as
yours!" WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! "If you act this way
again, our next master shall do far worse than what I do to you
now."
Velvet said nothing.
"It is bad enough we are trapped on this planet, bad
enough that we were forced to work for a pitiful man like the
Auctioneer, but do not shame us by performing your tasks in
treasonous ways!"
Velvet said nothing. She was unconscious.
AVENGERS MANSION
"She's what?"
Edwin Jarvis, the Avengers long-time butler took a step back,
"I-I'm sorry, but Aurora is missing."
"How is that possible?" Ms. Marvel fumed. She had
brought Aurora here because she thought this was the safest place
for her to be.*
* It's in
MS. MARVEL 33 - Honest Biscuit
"I-I don't know. It couldn't have been an intruder, so
she must have let herself leave. There was no security measures
taken to keep her from leaving, but that may have been because
the team was called away to deal with Kang* and Master Beast
didn't have time to-"
* See
AVENGERS 415 for details
Carol put up her hand, "It's okay, Jarv. I'm sorry, I
shouldn't have snapped. It's just … there's so much going on
right now. It's tough sometimes," she shook her head, using
Jarvis, as so many Avengers had in the past, as a confessional.
"I've got memories of things I've done, but not all the
emotional attachments that go with them. I found out today that a
friend died while I was out in space as Binary." She hung
her head, "And I barely even care. I'm sorry he's gone, but
I don't feel the loss."
Jarvis watched the heroine with sadness in his aging heart,
"Is there nothing we can do?"
Carol picked her head up, trying hard not to feel sorry for
herself, "Maybe he's not dead."
"Excuse me?"
"Maybe this friend isn't dead. According to SHIELD, he
died five months ago, but the postmark on the package was from
just last week."
"What package?" Jarvis asked, confused.
Carol wasn't even paying attention to the butler. "I was
so wrapped up in the news that he was dead that I buried my
thinking that the package was from him."
"Er … who's 'him'?"
"But I'm positive that the hand writing is his - the
style of the notes tells me that more than me remembering what
his hand writing looked like - so that means even if he is dead,
whoever found these notes knew enough to get them to me. Which
means I've gotta … thanks, Jarv!"
Carol jumped at the butler and kissed him on the cheek,
"You've been a real help!" She turned and left the
Mansion leaving a confused Edwin Jarvis in her wake.
FBI - NEW YORK HEADQUARTERS
She had debated whether she should come to this meeting as Ms.
Marvel or Carol Danvers, but in the end she chose her civilian
identity, even though that meant that information wouldn't come
her way as easily.
Or maybe it would. She was ex-NASA and ex-CIA, so maybe her
intelligence past would be good for a few points with Agent Gayle
Loonan, the agent in charge of the Gianelli affair. Agent Loonan
had called Michael Rossi during her investigation, when it came
up that Gianelli had worked for Carol and they couldn't find her.
Loonan had known that Michael and Carol were once involved, and
had called the SHIELD agent in hopes of locating Carol. As to why
the FBI were investigating Gianelli's murder, Carol was here to
find that out.
"Carol Danvers? I'm Agent Gayle Loonan," the FBI
agent greeted, shaking Carol's hand. She was a little shorter
than Carol, but in excellent physical condition, wearing a sharp,
if not overly expensive, suit jacket. FBI Chic, Carol thought,
everyone wants to look like Scully. "Won't you take a
seat?" Gayle asked, pointing to a chair on the opposite side
of her desk.
"Hello, Agent Loonan," Carol greeted, taking a seat,
"thank you for seeing me."
"Think nothing of it, Ms. Danvers. When Mi- Agent Rossi
called and said that you were interested in the Gianelli affair,
I made room in my schedule to see you." Carol caught the way
she had stumbled over Michael's name - perhaps there was a reason
why she knew of Carol and Michael's romance? "It was a
puzzling case."
"Mystery surrounding the murder?" Carol asked,
thinking of the package.
"Yes and No," Gayle frowned. "There's no doubt
that Gianelli is dead, but it's the how and why that are
troubling to us."
"No doubt that's he's dead?" Carol asked, frowning.
"No, I'm afraid not. I'm sorry," Agent Loonan
consoled. "It happened in Washington five months back. We'd
gotten a tip that Gianelli was stealing state secrets and we went
to track him down at the motel he was staying at in DC. We found
him and …" Gayle shook her head and shuddered, "
… and he resisted arrest, got violent and he ended up
getting shot dead." Gayle finished the last sentence
quickly, leaving Carol to think that she was hiding something.
"He must have had an explosive device on him because he
triggered it and exploded." Agent Loonan looked away,
"We lost three men in that motel room. The blast blew me out
the window and down into the pool. I thought I was lucky until I
went back upstairs and saw the burning bodies."
Carol let the revelation sit there for a moment, allowing
Agent Loonan time to compose herself before she went any further.
"Was Gianelli stealing state secrets?"
Loonan looked back to Carol and shrugged, "We don't know.
There was nothing left in that hotel room that we could use for
evidence. That's why we were looking for you. Since Gianelli used
to work for you at WOMAN, we were hoping you might know what he
was into."
"No idea, unfortunately," Carol answered. "I
haven't talked to Frank since my days at WOMAN."
"You were a hard woman to get ahold of," Agent
Loonan asked in an accusatory tone. "Would you mind telling
me where you were?"
"I could," Carol answered, "but I won't. Where
I was and what I was doing is of no concern of yours."
"That a fact?" Loonan asked, making Carol
uncomfortable that the conversation had suddenly turned sour.
"There's something about the whole Gianelli affair that
still bothers me."
"You want verification that I wasn't involved in
this?" Carol asked, trying to control her anger. "You
call SHIELD." She stood to leave.
"Michael is SHIELD and he didn't know where you
were," Agent Loonan countered, also rising.
"Then he didn't ask the right person."
Carol turned and left, not bothering to look back.
APARTMENT OF CAROL DANVERS
Carol went home to look through what she had dubbed the
Gianelli Files again. She didn't yet have a television, so she
turned on the small radio that she kept on the kitchen counter.
"--and in sports today, the Yankees lost to the Red Sox,
again, extending their losing streak to nine games --"
"Good," Carol smiled. "Any day where the Sox
beat the Yankees is always a good one." She slumped into her
couch and pulled out the package, flipping through the files to
see if anything new would catch her eye.
"--but to repeat our top story, Senator John Edmonds of
New York has been found dead tonight in a posh hotel in
Washington, DC. Early reports from the nation's capitol indicate
that the fifty-two year old Senator was discovered by a hotel
clerk, who reportedly discovered the unconscious Senator lying on
top of a young woman, who's screaming is what led the clerk
inside to investigate. Senator Edmonds is married and Chairman of
the Senate Committee on Moral Affairs --"
"Figures," Carol scoffed, shaking her head when her
blood ran cold. Edmonds was mentioned in these Files somewhere.
Furiously she tore through the mess of paperwork until she found
the hand-scribbled note that she had remembered. It was written
in pen in the bottom right hand corner of a piece of notebook
paper. The message, which Frank (she was certain that this was
Frank's hand-writing) had circled repeatedly said the following:
EDMONDS - NY
17 STRAIGHT ANTI-NASA VOTES
WON'T SEE X-MAS!!!!
Carol shuddered, "Alright, Gianelli. You've got my
curiosity sufficiently piqued. Time to go to Houston and see what
I can find."
END
MS.
PRINTS
comments to mariner2@tiac.net
NEXT ISSUE: THE RANGERS!!! 'NUFF SAID!! What, it isn't?
Okay, well, Ms. Marvel shows up, too, as the mystery of the
Gianelli Files deepens.
-- Mark …
25 June 1999
PREVIOUS ISSUE / FAN FIC DIRECTORY / NEXT ISSUE