by Stan Lee
It’s up to them now, she thought. The others. Steven and Jasmine and Liam and Kim and Duane.
At that moment, Roxanne missed everything about her old life. Her guitar, her band, her bed with the little flowers on the night table…and her mom. She felt a terrible urge to flee, to leave everything here behind and run as far and as fast as she could. But it was too late. With the ropes binding her and the gag blocking her power, she couldn’t move.
When Steven struggled back to consciousness, he, too, was bound up in ropes, cocooned in a tightly bound series of cords. Bits of wall plaster and broken computer parts littered the War Room floor. Sounds of fighting carried from across the room.
He struggled and squirmed, but the ropes were too tight. He felt a moment of panic—then stopped, forcing himself to concentrate. Clenching his arms tightly around himself, he thought: I summon the power of the Tiger. He paused. That sounds super lame. But it might work!
Energy rippled through Steven, from his heart outward to his arms and legs. The Tiger energy burned, forming its now-familiar manifestation above and around him. He flexed his muscles and threw his arms wide, splitting the ropes like spaghetti.
Steven leapt to his feet. A ceiling beam had fallen, crushing a bank of computer consoles. Just beyond, Carlos sat crouched down, tending to Jasmine. Steven ran over to them.
Jasmine had cuts on her face and arms. She looked very weak. “The power,” she said. “The Dragon power…it’s gone. I can’t feel it at all anymore.”
Carlos dabbed at her face with a tissue, wiping up blood. “It’s okay, Jaz. Lie still.”
“Dafari,” she said. “Is he okay?”
“Yes,” Carlos replied. “I sent him to the basement, to set up the…actually, I need to go, too. It’s important. I’m sorry, Jaz—”
“It’s okay.” Jasmine grinned. With surprising strength, she reached up and grabbed Steven’s shoulder. “I’ve got the Tiger.”
Steven reached out and pulled her to her feet.
Carlos looked from Steven to Jasmine, considering. Then he squeezed Jasmine’s hand and flashed her a quick, scared smile.
“Don’t die,” he said.
Jasmine watched him run off, shaking her head. “He’s so romantic,” she said.
Steven looked around. The room was a mess: fallen wall fragments, smashed computers. The wallscreen hung loose, cracked in half. Strangely, the old desks in the far corner were still intact.
“Looks like I was out for a while,” Steven said. “What happened?”
“They trashed the place, tied us up, then went after the newbies. But they didn’t see Carlos hiding in the shadows. He untied me.”
“The recruits,” Steven said. “They asked me what to do, and I…I didn’t know what to tell them.”
The memory came back to him then. The three faces—Liam, Duane, and Kim—staring at him. Begging for guidance, for leadership. For something he couldn’t give them.
“Hey!” Jasmine punched him on the shoulder, hard. “Snap out of it.”
“What do I do?” Steven asked. “And, ow.”
“Go help them!”
“What about you?”
Jasmine frowned and scrunched up her face. As she squeezed her eyes closed, a very faint Dragon aura began to rise up around her body. “Come on,” she whispered. “Comeoncomeoncomeon…”
Then she gasped, coughed, and doubled over. The Dragon energy vanished.
Steven reached for her. “I’m all right,” she said, waving him off. “But I’m not gonna be much help until I can get my power back. It’s like a…a battle between me and Maxwell, waged across the whole world.” She gave a dry laugh. “Come to think of it, that’s been true for a long time.”
Steven frowned. Again, the thought came to him: She’s got more history with Maxwell than we know.
“But never mind me,” she continued. “You need to pull your head out of the sand and go help your teammates.”
“I don’t—”
“Steven!” She was practically screaming at him now. “Help them.”
He nodded, turned away, and ran.
His mind was racing. The recruits had scattered—who needed his help most urgently? Ram’s pretty tough. Pig has no physical powers, so he’s vulnerable. Rabbit is the youngest. But Rooster…
As he dashed out the door, Jasmine’s words echoed again in his mind: Help them.
There was no more time for doubt. He had to act.
Josie dragged her bound captive across the floor of the garage. The gagged Rooster slid along easily on the oily floor, grunting muffled protests every few feet.
“You know,” Josie said. “If you were a Pig instead of a Rooster, you’d be Greased Pig by now.”
Stop it, Josie told herself. You’re starting to sound like Monkey. This team is driving me crazy.
She started toward the outer garage door, then stopped. An electric-powered jeep stood parked in the corner. A thick cord led from it to a large, inductive charging system mounted in a box on the wall.
Josie changed course, lurching toward the jeep. “Change of plans, girl,” she said. “Just gotta make a quick call.”
She reached into her pack and pulled out a short cord, snapping it quickly onto the analyzer on her wrist. Then she yanked the charging paddle out of the jeep. With the other end still connected to the wall, she plugged the little cord into a tiny port in the paddle.
A hologram rose up from Josie’s wrist. It flickered for a moment, flashing from blue static to red, then back to blue. Then it resolved into the hazy, indistinct form of Maxwell himself.
“Horse,” he said. “Is everything proceeding as planned?”
“Yes sir,” she replied. “I’ve secured one of the targets, and the other agents are dealing with the rest.”
“Then why,” he said slowly, “are you disturbing me?”
Maxwell’s image flickered. The holo-communicators used up an awful lot of power, and they weren’t perfected yet.
“I just, uh…” Josie hesitated. “It’s about Jasmine. I’m worried…is everything going as planned? With her?”
“It is,” Maxwell said. “I’m using a variety of meditative techniques, guided by my superior will and intellect, to extract the power from her. In a few hours, the Dragon will be mine and mine alone.”
Josie sighed in relief. The others were no problem; even the Tiger, powerful as he seemed, was young and inexperienced. As Josie had told her team, only Jasmine could conceivably disrupt their plans.
Josie squinted at the holo. Maxwell’s face was clearer now, and two ethereal images could be seen floating in the air above him. His bat-winged dragon hovered in profile, its wings wrapped tight around a different type of dragon: the slimmer, sharp-clawed serpent that represented Jasmine’s power. The two creatures’ mouths were only inches apart, snarling and hissing at each other like cats—as Maxwell’s dragon, the dominant one, sucked the life force slowly out of its victim.
“At least,” Maxwell continued, “the power will be mine if I am not interrupted again.”
Josie gulped and nodded. “Understood, sir. Thank you.”
She yanked the cord out of the paddle. The hologram flashed and vanished.
On the floor, the Rooster girl let out a sharp cry.
Josie reached out and jabbed a red button on the wall. As the big garage door started to slide open, she smiled down at her struggling captive.
“Save your breath, rock star,” Josie said. “It’s cold outside.”
DUANE DIDN’T LIKE to talk much. He found that a lot of the time, when he talked, people didn’t understand him. Or sometimes they understood the words, but not the ideas he was trying to express.
So when Monkey chased him into the training room, Duane didn’t say anything. He just ran across the floor, trampling over the exercise mats, pushing aside the treadmills and punching bags, until he reached the control screen.
Monkey swung around the doorway and into the room—just as Duane activated a half
dozen training sequences all at once. Jungle gyms sprouted out of the floor, climbing ropes dropped from the ceiling. Monkey looked at the assortment of workout equipment and grinned wickedly.
“Big mistake, kid,” he said, reaching out to grab a pair of exercise rings hanging from the ceiling. “This is what I was made for.”
Monkey swooped forward on the rings, almost as if he were weightless. When he reached the top of his arc, he let go and tumbled through the air. He stretched out his unnaturally long feet and grabbed hold of a rope with his toes.
Duane ignored Monkey. He stared at the screen, at the data flashing past his eyes. Duane had always been good at concentrating on a single task, blocking out distractions. That had caused him trouble at school—sometimes he got so engrossed in solving a problem, he wouldn’t hear what the teacher was saying. And sometimes the kids made fun of him because he seemed strange and distant.
But at times like this, Duane’s ability to focus came in very handy.
“You’re missin’ the show, kid,” Monkey said. He swung around the rope in a circle a few times. “Of course, once I take you in, we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other.”
Duane frowned. The data on the screen was moving so slowly! He wanted to use his full power, to absorb all the information at once. But he remembered what had happened back in South Africa, when he’d let his power run wild. So he held himself back and allowed the information to come at its own speed.
“Maybe Maxwell will give you to me as a pet,” Monkey said. “You ever heard of a monkey owning a pig before?” He chittered with laughter.
Finally—finally!—the Advanced Obstacle Course menu appeared on the screen. Duane pressed an icon.
“Just stand still.” Monkey launched himself through the air, straight toward Duane. “This won’t hurt muuu-UUUUUHHHH?”
Thick plastic cables dropped from above. They snapped around Monkey’s swooping form, plucking him out of the air—binding his arms, legs, and ankles. He jerked upward, caught in midair.
But Duane’s victory was short-lived. Monkey looked down at his opponent and grinned again. Then he lifted his arm to his head and, in quick motions, began to gnaw away at the nearest cable.
“Can’t catcf a Nonkey in vis kind of frap,” Monkey said, chewing madly. When his hand was free, he reached down to untwist another cable from his legs.
Duane turned back to the control screen and tapped another icon, the one for the low-powered Taser gun. Only one of the Tasers was fully charged. He thumbed up the power on it to full, then pressed ACTIVATE.
The Taser shot up out of the floor. It swiveled around, tracking Monkey. But when it fired off its thin metal wire, Monkey dodged it easily. The Taser shot out to its maximum length, then fell to the floor, sparking harmlessly.
“You’re outmatched, kid,” Monkey continued, jumping down to the floor.
Duane jabbed at another icon. This was his last chance, and he knew it. The paintball cannon whirred out of the wall—and Monkey took it out with one punch, snapping it loose. As it clattered to the floor, a broken capsule dribbled paint onto the white tile. The paint looked vaguely like fresh blood.
Before Duane could even formulate a thought, Monkey grabbed him by the throat and spun him around. Duane coughed and choked, struggling to breathe.
“I woulda done the same thing,” Monkey said. “But it’s over, kid. You can’t beat Vanguard.”
Duane clutched at his throat. Panic began to bubble up inside him.
“You gotta surrender now,” Monkey continued. “Otherwise I’m gonna have to keep choking you till you ain’t breathing no more.”
Ever since he was a little boy, Duane had hated to feel helpless. Now he flailed, waving his arms around wildly. But Monkey hung on to his back, the grip on Duane’s throat as tight as iron.
I’m gonna die! Duane thought. I’m gonna die here!
Almost without thinking, he let the Pig out of its cage.
Freed at last from its constraints, Duane’s power reached out to fill the room. A giant raging energy-boar, larger than he’d ever manifested before, rose up, bucking and snorting. The Zodiac power swept over the control screen, setting off a shower of sparks.
The lights dimmed, flickered, and winked out. The room went dark.
“Wha?” Monkey asked. He turned in alarm, loosening his grip for just a second.
Duane wrenched himself loose and started to run. But before he could take a single step, a heavy weight struck him on the back of the neck. He fell forward, crying out softly.
A bright light shone into his face. When he looked up, Monkey stood holding a flashlight in one hand and the broken paintball cannon in the other.
“Monkeys can see in the dark, y’know. I guess pigs can’t.”
Duane groaned. He tried to focus his power, to direct it at his opponent—but he couldn’t concentrate. His head felt like somebody had just fought a battle inside it.
And he knew: he’d played his gambit and lost. With the power short-circuited, he couldn’t use the training room’s machines against Monkey anymore.
Monkey pulled out a rope and crouched down. “I’m just gonna tie you up with this now,” he said. “Don’t fight anymore, okay? I don’t wanna have to bring in a bruised pig.”
As Monkey pulled the ropes tight, Duane felt the panic rise inside him again. He turned away, fighting back tears. This time, he really was helpless.
For good measure, Monkey grabbed a stray barbell and hit Duane hard on the crown of his head. Visions of Monkey and the other Vanguard surrounding him and the others, knocking their heads together, swarmed in his head. He didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. He only knew that there was no way out.
Liam dashed out of the War Room, skidding a little as he swerved into the long corridor. Alarms rang all around, lights flashed red on the ceiling. He paused at the end of the hall and flung a security door open. Then he took off up the metal maintenance stairway, two steps at a time.
He could hear one of the Vanguard agents following. Heavy footsteps thudded, one after another, in a steady beat. The agent, whoever he or she was, was clearly in no hurry. Sooner or later he’d catch up.
Liam puffed a bit as he reached the first landing. He stopped for a moment, smiling to himself. With his Ram powers, Liam was nearly invulnerable; almost nothing could stop him. He could just let the Vanguard agent catch him and see what happened.
But he had something better in mind.
A crash rang out from below. Liam peered down around the staircase and saw Ox standing at the bottom in front of the smashed-in security door. Liam turned around quickly and started running again.
Ox’s footfalls resumed, echoing in the narrow stairwell.
At the top of the stairs, Liam dashed down another short hallway, then pulled open the door labeled MAIN LABORATORIES. Inside, the labs were deserted. Liam ran past cubicles and sinks, experiments left half-finished when the alarms had sounded. He came to the door labeled CARLOS’S PRIVATE LAB—KEEP OUT! and shouldered it open.
Carlos’s lab was a maze of desks, computers, and mechanical experiments—and, at the far wall, there was another door. This one was labeled CONTAINMENT CHAMBER. Liam smiled and opened that door, too. Then he got to work.
Five minutes later, when Ox smashed down the Containment Chamber door, Liam was sitting casually inside a large transparent cube. It was about ten feet wide on each side, with an opening on the side nearest to Ox. Liam held a half-eaten candy bar in one hand and a small tablet in the other.
“Just a sec,” he said. “I’m about to level up on Legend of Zook.”
Ox smiled and shook his head. He ducked inside the cube, reached out to grab Liam—then turned in surprise as the opening slid shut behind him.
Now they were sealed inside the cube together.
Liam smiled back and held up the computer. “Ah, y’got me. I’m not really playin’ Zook,” he said. “This is more like a remote control.”
He pres
sed a button. Outside the cube, in the corner of the room, a computer hummed to life. A screen lit up with the words: CAGE MATCH PROTOCOLS—ACTIVATED.
“No Zook,” Ox said. He moved up close to Liam, towering over him. “What game are you playing, kid?”
“Game,” Liam said. “Aye, y’got my number, Mister Ox. I do like games. You know I wouldn’t let Steven recruit me to this little circus until he managed to beat me in combat?”
Ox cocked his head. “And how did he do that?”
“Ah, I see what ye did there!” Liam smiled again. “Nice try—but I’m afraid you’ll have to find out for yourself. Y’see, Carlos helped me set up this little game, right here, to play with Steven. Man’s got to get even, you know. But I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.”
Ox turned away. He pulled out a knife and began picking at the seal on the side of the chamber.
“Oh, don’t bother tryin’ to jimmy the door,” Liam continued. “You see, this chamber is now utterly sealed. An’ the computer is programmed not to open it again until one of us is unconscious.”
“Unconscious.”
“Aye. Just like a cage match, see? If ye can knock me out, I’m yours. Bloody clever, if I say so myself.”
Ox turned and moved toward Liam. “What if I just take that little ‘Nintendo’ from you and—”
Liam dropped the console on the floor and stamped on it. It shattered into a hundred pieces.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ox said. He cracked his knuckles, a loud sound in the confined space. “I’m the strongest person on Earth…Mister Maxwell’s run the tests. Just close your eyes. This’ll be over in a minute.”
Ox reared back and punched Liam in the face. Liam’s head snapped back, bouncing off the side of the chamber with a loud thumping noise. Then he straightened up, cracked his neck muscles, and smiled.
“Ha!” Liam said. “See, that’s what makes this so interestin’. You might be the strongest person on Earth—I sure don’t remember ever being hit that hard before—but I’m the toughest. The Ram’s power is invulnerability, and mate, I’m as invulnerable as they come.”