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Written by Bob Gansler
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Written by Bob Gansler
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1958. Communists, aliens, terrorists. As the nation faced these many dangers, President Eisenhower brought together the greatest heroes of the day as the Avengers. Together, they protect America from the threats of this world and of others.
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| Marvel Boy (Bob Grayson)
An Earthman armed with the skills and science of the Eternals of Uranus. Gorilla-Man (Ken Hale)
3-D Man (Hal & Chuck Chandler)
Venus
Human Robot
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The Avengers defeated a renegade Kree agent, Captain Tym-Lee, who sought to conquer the USA. |
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Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean
A detachment of the United States' Pacific Fleet was engaged in training maneuvers. Their exact location was top secret, only known to a very select few. The meteorological reports had indicated that this section of the ocean would be completely calm and clear for the duration of the maneuvers. The fact that the skies were becoming dark and the waves were beginning to rise was of some concern to the commander of the operation. Aboard the USS Illinois, Captain Ronald Sterling peered through his binoculars out of the window on the bridge. What he saw disturbed him.
He let go of the binoculars and let them hang from the strap around his neck. "What in Sam Hill is going on here? I can't do maneuvers if the weather is going to be like this!" He pointed out the window where the storm was gathering and then turned to his First Officer. "I thought the weather was supposed to be ideal."
The First Officer tugged at his collar uncomfortably. "That's correct, sir. It was supposed to be clear. But a freak storm started up. The weathermen can't explain it. It just popped out of nowhere."
Captain Sterling slammed his hands down on the ledge. "Don't give me that cockamamie story. I've been on the sea long enough to know that storms don't just pop up. With all the radar we've got aboard, I should have known about this hours ago."
"Well, sir," the First Officer explained. "The storm just rose up. It was headed away from our position, but the radar officers say that it turned about and then began heading right for our position."
"Dagnabit," Captain Sterling cursed. "Storms don't come about."
"This one did," the First Officer said sheepishly.
Captain Sterling began pacing about the bridge. This was supposed to be a simple exercise to keep the fleet ready and to send a message to the Soviets that America was committed to holding the Pacific.
He looked the First Officer straight in the eye. "Which of our ships is the farthest west?"
"The Trenton, sir."
"Get on the horn to the Trenton. I want to know what they're picking up. Maybe their radar operators can tell us something that our boys can't."
The First Officer went to the Communications Officer and relayed the captain's message. A minute later, the First Officer returned to the Captain's side.
"Sir, we can't raise the Trenton," he reported.
"Well, what's her position?"
The First Officer looked down. "I called down to Radar Operations. She doesn't have a position. She's off our radar screen."
"Off of our radar screen? She can't be that far away from us," Captain Sterling fumed.
"The storm rolled up on her, sir. I think she's lost."
"We'll see about that!" Captain Sterling stomped off to the Radar Operations room. As he entered, he began shouting. "I want to know what's going on out there, and I want to know five minutes ago."
The Chief Radar Officer approached the captain and explained to him what they had learned. He showed the captain their mapped trajectory of the storm. It really had turned about. It had also grown in intensity at an alarming pace. Captain Sterling could barely believe the readings. The storm had transformed into a hurricane in a matter of minutes.
"Where's the Trenton?" Captain Sterling demanded.
"We haven't been able to re-establish contact with her. The storm enveloped her and stayed there for a while before moving on," the chief explained.
"It stopped and then moved on?" Captain Sterling said incredulously. "What kind of storm is this?"
"I don't know, sir. But if we stay here much longer, it will get us too."
Captain Sterling weighed his options. He looked at the mapped trajectory, he looked at the reports on the storm's intensity, he looked at the sweeping radar screens. While he hated to abandon the Trenton, the safety of the fleet came first. He could not risk all of the ships. He picked up the horn and called up to the bridge.
"Order the fleet about. We're heading back to Pearl. Get on the line to Fleet HQ and tell them to let Washington know. This is no natural storm. God help us all if the Commies can control the weather now."
The next day, the Silver Bullet was out in the Pacific. Carrying the core team of the Avengers - Marvel Boy, Gorilla-Man, 3-D Man, Human Robot, and Venus – they were undertaking this mission at the express request of the President.
Marvel Boy called back from the cockpit. "We're just about to the site. I'm not picking up any ships in the area, and we should be safe from Soviet radar with the Bullet's Uranian shielding."
"I don't see why the Navy can't handle their own business," Gorilla-Man grumbled. He was not a big fan of the water, neither were the other Avengers when he got wet.
"Ike's afraid of heating up the Cold War," 3-D Man explained. "The spot where the Trenton went down is pretty close to Soviet territorial waters. If the Navy sent in a whole squad of ships to investigate, it might get the Soviets all worked up. If somebody gets a little trigger happy, the whole world then goes up in a mushroom cloud." He was glad that Captain America and Bucky were busy on another secret mission for the FBI; their presence could prove volatile. He wondered if this situation had something to do with the strange appearance and disappearance of the Champions and Aeon from the future.
{See Champions #38-39 for the Champs' trip back to 1958}
"I've analyzed the data that the Navy has provided," the Human Robot stated. "The information is not consistent with any known meteorological phenomenon. My initial hypothesis was that there was a guiding force behind the storm."
"What? Like the hand of God?" Gorilla-Man joked.
"Perhaps the hand of a god," Venus said cryptically. The storm had an all-too-familiar ring to it.
After hours of searching, the Avengers had been completely unsuccessful in unraveling the mystery of the storm. No wreckage of the USS Trenton was to be found at her last reported location. Marvel Boy used every possible scanner and sensor that the Silver Bullet possessed, but he could detect nothing. The sharp eyes of the 3-D Man and the keen photo-electric receptors of the Human Robot could not spy anything either. Venus' Olympian powers picked up nothing as well.
Gorilla-Man just slunk back into his chair and watched as everybody else worked. There was nothing that he could besides look out the main viewport. Not that he could see anything that the others might have missed. "A lot of good I'm doing here," he muttered. He turned back to Venus. "Hey, what were you saying before about the 'hand of a god' One of your relatives causing trouble?"
"Neptune is the Greek god of the sea, isn't he?" 3-D Man added. "Could he be behind this?" 3-D Man was not sure if he believed that an actual Neptune existed. He had always assumed that they existed only in mythology. However, his time with the Avengers had convinced of the genuine existence of Venus.
"It could not be Neptune," Venus sighed and her face momentarily lost its cheeriness.
"How do you arrive at that conclusion?" the Human Robot inquired.
Venus took a deep breath. "Neptune is dead. He was killed by an American undersea atomic test a few years ago."
"Whoa!" 3-D Man exclaimed. "The USA killed a god? I thought you people were immortal."
Venus frowned. The look was so markedly different than her normal appearance. "Time cannot destroy us. Sufficient physical power can do so, however. Until this era on Earth, that sort of power only existed in the cosmic spheres - Olympus, Asgard, Heliopolis. With the creation of the atomic bomb, mankind now has that power as well."
"So you're saying that you could have been killed as well when we stopped the Yellow Claw a few months ago?" Marvel Boy asked. "His purloined atomic weapons could have killed you, too?"
"Yes," Venus admitted. "It's what makes my mission that much more important. The power of hatred could literally lay waste to the world. That is why I must instill in humanity the power of love, before mankind destroys itself."
"This is getting way too metaphysical for me," Gorilla-Man interjected. "But you still haven't answered my question. You said 'hand of a god'. If it's not Neptune, then who could it be?"
"I have a terrible fear that it could be his daughter, Neptunia. The death of her father unhinged her mind. She sought to wreak her revenge on the United States with her power over the sea. I stopped her, and I thought her destroyed by the power of her own storm. It may be that I was mistaken."
{Venus and Neptunia fought way back in Venus #18, reprinted in Golden Age of Marvel #1}
"I don't remember a 'Neptunia' in my study of Greek mythology," 3-D Man admitted. "But I'll take your word for it that she exists, or did exist, or might still exist. So what do we do?"
"If she's out there, and we get close enough, we will find her," Venus explained. "A hate as strong as hers will not go unnoticed by me."
"No offense, but I would expect the Silver Bullet's sensors to pick up some kind of energy reading before that," Marvel Boy called out from the cockpit. "If she has that kind of power at her disposal, there's going to be a trace that's left."
"Olympian power is something out of your realm of experience, Marvel Boy." Venus returned to looking out one of the side viewports. "Perhaps you will find some trace, perhaps it will turn out to be something else."
"Communist plot or renegade goddess, it doesn't matter to me." Gorilla-Man pounded his massive fists together. "It's gotta be stopped. Nobody messes with the USA."
On an uncharted island in the Pacific, some of the most sinister forces of the sea were gathered. Those menaces that seafarers had feared for centuries - the shark and the giant squid - were trifles as compared to the beings gathered here. Those sea animals only acted out of primal instincts. These beings acted out of malice and revenge. Their lord had been destroyed by a young, upstart nation. That land was not even two hundred years old and it challenged the power of the gods. Some recalled the days, long ago, when humanity treated their betters with more respect. Perhaps those days were to come again.
On the shores of this island, the leader of this cadre stood, overseeing her troops, as the tide washed over her feet. Though her visage was severe, it was not out of fear of her that these beings had gathered here. They came out of respect for their fallen lord. Neptune was dead. Now they pledged his allegiance to his daughter, the raven-haired Neptunia.
"The Americans have felt the first sting of revenge from the sea," Neptunia raged. Her long hair and loose red toga fluttered in the wind. "The power of my storm destroyed their ship. You, the loyal sons and daughters of the sea, dispatched those who had survived. The Americans have withdrawn from this area. We will hunt them down on whatever water onto which they dare their ships. We shall rid the seas of the Americans. Then we shall take the battle to her own shores. That nation will pay for her impunity. For Father Neptune!"
"For Father Neptune!" the cry went up among the troops. They were all creatures out of Greek mythology. There was the shape-changing Proteus; the merman called Glaucus; the dreaded daughter of the Titan Oceanus, Styx; and the fearsome Gorgon Euryale.
Neptunia smiled. "I thank all of you for rallying to the cause. I undertook this path of vengeance once before, only to be thwarted by the insipid goddess of love. Jupiter was a fool to enact the edict barring those of Olympus from acting against the humans of America. You, who are all of the Titans, were not bound by that edict. Would that more of your brethren had joined us, but I suppose many are still fearful of Jupiter's wrath after the defeat of you and yours during the Titanomachy."
"While we bear no love for most of those of Olympus," Styx said coldly. "Neptune was a most generous lord, even to my father Oceanus, whom he replaced as lord of the seas. These humans of America must be punished for their impudence."
"And so they shall," Neptunia answered. "My power grows within me once again. Soon it shall be at its peak again, I shall loose the storm anew." She pointed out at the water and created a large wave that then washed over them. "Soon," she thought. "Very soon shall the storm rage once again."
Inside of the Silver Bullet, Venus' head shook with a start. "Oh!"
At the same time, Marvel Boy spoke from the cockpit. "The sensors have picked up something. I think I have a fix."
"What do you got there, Venus?" Gorilla-Man joked. "A case of heartburn?"
"No." Venus allowed herself a small smile. "I felt a massive surge of hate, a wave of it, if you will."
"Hey, Marvel Boy!" 3-D Man called out.
"I'm sure it's the same thing that I just picked up on," the Uranian Wonder replied. "I'm changing course right now. My space-radar puts the source on an island a few miles away." He looked over the charts that the Navy supplied. "Strange. It doesn't show up on the maps. Not surprising though. Maybe if they could do their cartography from satellites …"
"Yeah, we know," Gorilla-Man grumbled. "Earth technology pales into comparison to Uranian, blah blah blah. Just get us there, Spaceboy. I'm sick of being cooped up in this tin can. I need something to hit."
The Silver Bullet approached the side of the island opposite to where Neptunia and her band were. Still, their appearance did not go unnoticed, since the island was decidedly small. Marvel Boy put the Silver Bullet down on the sandy beach, and the Avengers filed out of the spacecraft.
3-D Man put his hand to his forehead and surveyed the beachfront. "I don't see anything. What about you, HR?"
The Human Robot's photo-electric receptors were scanning the landscape as well. "I detect nothing. Are you certain that this is the correct location?"
"Of course," Marvel Boy answered indignantly. "The energy surge was very quick. I was not able to get an exact fix before it disappeared." He turned to the goddess of love. "Venus?"
She frowned as the wind swept her glowing blonde locks. "There is hatred in abundance here. It is near, and getting closer."
"All right, Avengers," Marvel Boy ordered. "Let's be ready."
The team spread out into a V-formation as it advanced. There was a small line of trees at the edge of the beach. Before the Avengers could reach the edge, a number of the trees were smashed down by the hulking form of Glaucus. The other Titans and Neptunia followed close behind.
Venus recognized all of the Titans, but her gaze was fixed on Neptunia. The sea god's daughter met the gaze with her own.
"Neptunia!" Venus exclaimed. "I thought it might be you."
"Venus, the weak goddess of love," Neptunia answered bitterly. "How you could consort with these Americans who destroyed one of our own. They deserve the patronage of your rival Mars, not your own."
3-D Man turned to the other Avengers. "I guess Venus knows these jokers, or at least the only human-looking one of the lot."
"Hold on," Marvel Boy demanded. "Let's see if Venus can negotiate a peaceful resolution with these creatures."
"I hope she doesn't," Gorilla-Man declared eagerly. "I'm looking for a fight."
"So it was you who attacked the American fleet, along with these Titan allies of yours," Venus stated.
"Of course. They were the only ones brave enough to defy the edict that Jupiter enacted which forbade reprisals against the Americans. These impudent humans must be taught their proper station in the hierarchy."
"The time of humans worshipping our kind is long past, and it will never come again," Venus answered. "The tragedy that befell your father was an unfortunate accident, but there was no deliberate malice behind the act."
"So you say," Neptunia countered. "Look at what they have done with this world with their progress. They pollute Gaia more every day. They have developed weapons that can destroy her, that can destroy our kind. This world was a much better place than our stewardship."
"So we try to convince ourselves to be believe, but we know that we can be just as petty as they are. Stand down, Neptunia. In the memory of Neptune, who made peace with his onetime foes, these Titans of the sea, stand down." Venus stared sternly at Neptunia and her adherents
"Never!" Neptunia answered sharply. "Sons and daughters of the sea, attack!"
"Negotiations have failed," the Human Robot noted coldly.
"Hot dog!" Gorilla-Man said.
"All right," Marvel Boy declared. "Go, Avengers, go!" He rushed into the lead. "There's one for each us. Split up and take them down."
Venus did not need to be told who her opponent should be. She made a direct line for Neptunia. As she approached, the daughter of the ocean lord summoned forth a blast of water from the ocean. The burst hit the goddess of love straight on and thoroughly doused her. Her long blonde hair fell matted on her face.
Gorilla-Man squared off against Proteus. To the man-beast's eyes, he appeared to be a beautiful young man. Gorilla-Man held his fists out menacingly. "Put 'em up, pretty boy."
The legendary shape-changer smiled and then shifted form into an exact double of Gorilla-Man. "I thought Neptunia said we were to battle humans, not beasts."
"What the?" Gorilla-Man exclaimed. "Are you some kind of Skrull?"
"I know not whereof you speak," Proteus growled as he laid the first blow of the skirmish. "You speak strangely for a talking ape."
Gorilla-Man countered with a flurry of punches of his own. "Yeah, well, we'll see who can talk at the end of this one."
A triple-powered leap took 3-D Man within striking distance of Glaucus. The merman's fish-scaled legs and seaweed-like beard gave him a most distinctive look. 3-D Man unleashed a triple-powered punch. "And people say I look funny."
The blow connected, but Glaucus sprang right back up to his webbed feet. "You know little, colored man. Many are the wonders Glaucus has seen ere he was transformed." His sea-trained muscles landed a powerful punch of his own to the Human Triple Threat's jaw.
3-D Man rubbed his sore jaw. "Man, my triple speed saved me. If I hadn't gone with the punch, that would've knocked my head off."
The hideous Gorgon called Euryale stomped towards the Human Robot. Like her legendary kinswoman Medusa, she was a frightening sight. The legends may have exaggerated the Gorgons' power to turn men to stone. In reality, their grotesque appearance froze men in fear.
"Gaze upon me, warrior," Euryale taunted with a lilting tone in her voice as the snake atop her head hissed. "Gaze upon the beauty of Euryale." To her eyes, the Human Robot was merely a man in armor. She would harden his limbs in terror and then tear him apart.
The Human Robot scanned Euryale with his photo-electric receptors. Cross-referencing her appearance against his memory tapes, he could see no indication of beauty in her. "Your statement is invalid," he declared and continued to march towards her.
"You have a brave heart," Euryale seethed. "But have you the courage to face the terror of Euryale unleashed?" Her eyes glowed red with rage, her forked tongue darted out of her fang-filled mouth, and her snake-filled head went into frenetic motion.
The Human Robot struck Euryale with a powerful right cross that sent the Gorgon flying. The blow had left Euryale in a daze. The Mechanical Marvel hovered over her. "Consider yourself introduced to modern day magic," the Human Robot tried to joke.
It was up to Marvel Boy to face the oldest of the Titans that Neptunia had gathered. Styx was the living personification of the fabled river of the dead. Her dark skin was marked by her long flowing white hair. The ancient power that he resided in her made her almost as horrible as Euryale.
She pointed at Marvel Boy with her slightly withered fingers. "Do not seek to oppose the Water of Death, petty human. The dark and the cold are at my command." When she spoke, the air turned cold around her.
Marvel Boy brought his bracelets to bear. "There's nothing petty about one trained by the greatest minds of Uranus. And I've felt the dark and cold of space. I don't think you can do much worse than that."
"Uranus is dead, impudent mortal. Your words make little sense," Styx shrieked. She brought forth a wave of deathly cold water.
The Uranian wonder was ready. He unleashed beams from his bracelets. Too the surprise of Styx and himself, the beams completely countered Styx's blast. The coldness of Styx's water was being matched by the heat of Marvel Boy's beams.
"Heat?" Marvel Boy thought to himself. "I know that there's some heat associated with my light beams, but not too that degree." How much more to these bands was there that remained to be discovered?
{A great deal, since they really are the Quantum Bands, though Marvel Boy does not know it}
"By Gaia!" Styx exclaimed. "What power is this?"
"Uranian power!" Marvel Boy proclaimed as he drove a pair of beams into Styx's midsection.
Meanwhile, Venus and Neptunia were wrestling upon the ground. Though Venus abhorred the physical confrontation, she knew that Neptunia could not unleash her full power if she was occupied so. As it was, the water and wind rushed all around them. The water, fueled by Neptunia's rage, bit into Venus skin as no normal water ever could.
Venus dared a quick look to the rest of the battle ground and was emboldened by the success of her comrades. She turned back to Neptunia. "It's over, Neptunia. Your allies are falling to the Avengers. Surrender, and we shall have Lord Jupiter mete out your punishment."
"No!" Neptunia screamed. "We shall not be defeated." She broke out of Venus' grip and summoned a massive wave. The water washed over all of the combatants. When the wave receded, the Avengers were all still there, although battered by the water. However, Neptunia and her followers were gone.
Venus was the first to get back to her feet. "This isn't over, Neptunia. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, I hear you," Neptunia thought. Already, she and the Titans were hundreds of yards out to see. At her command, they began towards a deep undersea cave. They wove about the caverns until she felt they were deep enough to avoid detection by the humans.
The battered Titans looked to Neptunia with distressed eyes.
"What do we do, mistress?" Proteus implored. "These humans are too powerful for us."
Neptunia scowled for a few moments. In days of old the Titans had been fearsome warriors. In the modern day, centuries of inactivity had dulled their powers. She needed allies of more recent vintage. Then a very clever idea came to her. Her scowl was replaced by a devious smile. "I shall call upon some of my father's followers. They should be able to turn the tide for us."
"Atlanteans?" Glaucus asked. "They are hardier than surface humans, but they are not much more powerful."
"Two of them were blessed by Neptune with powers more potent than these Avengers. I have heard word that these two have allied with the Avengers in the past. However, when they are confronted with the truth of the savagery of this nation called America, they shall join us and we shall triumph!" Neptunia rubbed her hands with glee.
"Who are these two mighty Atlanteans?" Euryale inquired.
Neptunia formed a sphere of colored liquid between her hands. She concentrated for a moment and then images began to form in the mystical liquid within. The two forms that appeared were indeed quite well known to the Avengers. They were the Mariner and the Seawoman. "They are called Nemo and Namora."
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Next Issue:
Nemo and Namora return. Will they fight alongside the powers of the sea as Neptunia expects, or will they ally once again with the Avengers? Be here for 'War of the Goddesses - Part 2.
BiG Productions
18-July-00
Comments, criticisms, and concerns for FLASHBACKWORDS accepted at rgansler@facstaff.wisc.edu
The Avengers 1958 web page is at http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~gansler/avengers58/av58.htm