Play to Win Part One

At an Eastern Oregon convenience store, the locals are watching a news report about the recently reformed Avengers and talk what they would do if they won the lottery.[1] The gossip then turns to Captain America, once of the patrons wonders what he looks like with is mask off figuring you probably couldn’t tell him apart from anyone else on the street. However, the cashier doubts it, saying that you can tell who is a superhuman just by looking at them. That’s when the outlaw known as Vegas enters the store after to fuel up and get supplies after riding all night long. When the discussion turns to why superheroes don’t join the police or the military they ask the strange what he things. Vegas thinks that they don’t because these heroes make the world best they can for the rest of them in their own way. He figures that even the worst of them has got a good reason to be doing what they are doing. He also reckons most of them have some tragic event in their life that motivates them. He then says life’s a gamble and one might as well play to win. When Vegas goes to pay for everything he opens his wallet and discovers to his embarrassment that it is empty.

As he tries to explain his situation, saying that he went to see his sister Jane, but there was an awful accident and she got killed and he has been in a hurry to get home. He asks the cashier if there is any way he can help it will be greatly appreciated. Seeing that there is a glint of truth in his story, the owner of the store decides to give him everything he was attempting to buy. He hands the cashier a rose as a token of his thanks. That’s when a young man in the back of the store pulls a gun and orders everyone to put their valuables and money into Vegas’ shopping bag, making it seem like the pair of them are working together. However, Vegas can’t have this trouble especially after everything that happened in Huntsville, Texas, and when the thief has his guard down, Vegas whirls around and hits him in the face with the bag. Angered, the thief tries to shoot Vegas but instead of being shot he sees a series of numbers flash before his eyes, just like last time. When the numbers are gone, he realizes that he is still alive because the shooter missed. Vegas quickly knocks out the thief, and leaves before the police arrive and start asking questions. As he leaves, he thinks about the numbers he saw in his vision, they were the winning lottery tickent number in the woman’s purse. Unfortunately, the winning ticket was destroyed when it was clipped by the shooter’s bullet. This is the first time Vegas had a vision and he doesn’t look forward to when it happens again.

Two days later, Vegas arrives in Austin, Texas where he pays a visit to his ex-girlfriend Meg Lantry. She slaps him in the face or leaving her for another woman and tells him to get lost. However, Vegas grabs her and tells her that she was right about Rose and her gang, the Renegades, as he learned the hard way that they were bad news and that they killed his sister Jane. Shocked by this revelation, Meg feels sorry for Vegas and invites him in. Inside the apartment, Vegas tells her that he wants to find the Renegades and pay them back. When he asks if she heard anything about them, she admits that the Padre has been seen in t own recently. That’s when Sergeant Harlan Stone — a Texas Ranger — comes out of the kitchen and introduces himself and that Meg heard about the Renegade’s return to Austin from him. Stone figures they have a lot in common and can talk about it, suggesting that Vegas surrender peacefully to avoid being handcuffed in front of Meg. She apologizes to Vegas, as Harlan — nicknamed the Tombstone — was already there .He tells Meg not to worry about it, kisses her on the forhead and goes peacefully.

As Stone and Vegas drive to the police station, they hear a radio report about Spider-Man’s recent battle with Doctor Octopus. Turning off the radio, Harlan comments about how it’s useful fiction that everyone thinks that superheroes all wear mask, capes, and bright colors. When Vegas asks what he means, Harlan decides to show by swirving his car to try and run down a provocatively dressed woman. Suddenly she turns into electricity to evade the speeding vehicle. Tombstone gets out of his car, and checks with the woman — Trisha — to make sure she’s staying out of trouble. She tells him that she has gone straight, selling her powers as a source of green energy. After Trish is on her way, Harlan explains that she is what they call an “Anomalito”, superhumans who don’t wear costumes that live in the shadows of society, and he’s the one who polices them. He says most of them aren’t problems, but there are the bad ones, which he calls the “Anormaloco”, like the Renegades, that he has been charged with taking down. He knows that Vegas used to run with them because he used to date one of their members, Rose Red. He tells Vegas that the two of them are to work together on bringing the Renegades to justice, otherwise Harlan can put him back in prison. Realizing that he’s in trouble, Vegas debades grabbing Harlan’s gun and making a run for it. He waits for the right moment and, as they are crossing a bridge, a flurry of bats come up from underneath and begin swarming the truck. While Tombstone is distracted, Vegas grabs his gun and leaps off the side of the bridge and swims down to the Warehouse District. As he makes his getaway, Vegas thinks back to a time when he was still running with the Renegades…..

At the time, their leader the Padre has brought them out to a chemical spill so he could bathe in it. While Padre is busy, the Six-Gun Kid is upset that Vegas won’t call him by his name. However, Rose Red tells the youth that a name should be earned. Six-Gun can’t understand why she spends time with a norm, like Vegas and asks what good he is to the group. Vegas demonstrates his usefulness by shooting the flower off a nearby cactus. Six-Gun is unimpressed and shows off his own power by decimating the cactus by shooting it with six guns at once, two in his hands, four that he telepathically controls. This angers Suicide King, who tells Six-Gun that they are out there because the Padre’s spiritual jounrey and challenges the Kid to a draw. Afraid of King, Six-Gun quickly stands down. The King warns the Kid that if he steps out of line again he’s on a one-way trip to Fort Misery.

Vegas almost forgot about Fort Misery — an abandoned warehouse that the Renegades used as a hideout — and decides to go there to look for the Renegades. There he finds the Padre praying arround a sea of candles. When he tries to confront the Padre, they are interrupted when Tombstone arrives to take them both in. In response, Padre leaps onto the candles causing a sudden explosion due to the barrels of volitile chemicals also held in the room. As Vegas tries to find a way out of the burning building, he is ambushed by Padre who attacks him with a cruficix made out of flame. Although the Padre has the element of surprise, Vegas manages to pump him full of bullets sending him falling into the growing inferno. As Vegas tries to find a way out he begins to sccumb to the heat and smoke and collapses. Moment later, the abandoned warehouse explodes.

Recurring Characters

Vegas, the Renegades (Padre, Rose Red, Six-Gun Kid, Smith, Suicide King), Meg Lantry, Harlan Stone, (on television) New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, “Spider-Woman”, Wolverine, Luke Cage

Continuity Notes

1. Some facts about the Avengers here:

   • The news report comments about the recently formed Avengers. This is reference to the fact that the Avengers had disbanded following the events of Avengers #500-503 and then reformed again in New Avengers #1-6.

   • It should be noted that the woman who appears to be Spider-Woman here is actually a Skrull spy as revealed in Secret Invasion #3. This impostor took Spider-Woman’s place during the events of Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1.

Topical References

The following references should be considered topical as they are either real-world properties or will date the story.

• The news station being watched being identified as CNN

• The convenience store patron stating that her grandmother met Captain America in 1942.

• References to the Al-qaeda terrorist organization.

Power Corrupt Part One

The Microverse - Two Months Ago

Two aliens named Cinglet and Xennon are on an expedition to examine the surface of an alien world. Inside a structure they find sealed room with marking of a foreign language. They catalogue it and go inside where they find a number of strange pods that are indescribable.

Chicago, Illinois - Now

Ted Simmons has just revealed to his girlfriend that he has become the costumed hero called Captain Universe. This revelation makes her briefly faint and after helped back up to her feat, Leslie asks Ted how he got this costume. Ted, a beat cop, was trying to prevent a man from jumping off the roof of a building. Suddenly, there was a blue flash of light and he felt a great deal of strength that allowed him to pull the jumper off the roof. The power also gave him a costume and told him that he was now Captain Universe. Ted is excited because he always wanted to give back to the community, hence why he became a cop, but with these powers he feels as though he can do even more. Leslie wants to talk about things, but Simmons tells her that he needs to go on patrol as Captain Universe and departs, becoming intangible to fly up through the ceiling of Leslie’s home.

Later, a gang of bank robbers are exchanging gunfire with police when Captain Universe arrives on the scene. He blasts one of the crooks, but when he tries to dispatch the other his energy blasts start to fail him. The second gunman begins shooting at him and Ted starts to feel their imact. Tryring to stop the pain, he becomes intangible again but this results in the officer on the scene getting gunned down. Recognizing the officer and realizing he’s dead, Captain Universe takes his gun and shoots the second crook dead. He then curses the entitty that gave him these powers, only for them to not work when he needed them the most and demands that they be taken away.

Recurring Characters

Captain Universe, Cinglet, Xennon