Nick Peron

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Avengers: The Initiative #30

Nick Peron

Walking Nightmare

Credits

Two Decades Ago

Naomi was part of a cult that operated out of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Their leader is a man named Karl who claims to be the chosen one of Nightmare, a demon that lives in the realm of dreams. Naomi doesn’t fully buy into this but because she is attracted to Karl, she agrees to sleep with him one night. It’s then that she learns Nightmare is real when the entity uses Karl’s body as a means of reaching out into the physical world.

The incident horrifies Naomi so badly, that she and another follower — Jerry Ward — agree to sneak out together two weeks later. This is observed by both Karl and Nightmare. Nightmare tells Karl to let them go as he has impregnated Naomi and allowing them to raise the child in a normal household suits his needs. He tells Karl how his child will be born with the ability to turn into what people fear which will push the boy into isolation. Once he has reached absolute despair, Nightmare will have his opening to possess his son’s body, allowing him to finally take over the material world.[1]

Now

Camp HAMMER — home to the Initiative — is under attack by the Avengers Resistance — Justice (Vance Astrovik), Gauntlet (Joe Green), Rage (Elvin Haliday), the Scarlet Spider, Slapstick (Steve Harmond), Tigra (Greer Grant), and Ultragirl (Suzy Sherman) — who have come to rescue their captured teammate Night Thrasher (Donyell Taylor).[2] There they face opposition from Taskmaster and Penance. This all the while that Trauma (Terrance Ward) tries to prevent Nightmare from taking over his body. Terrence knows that Penance is secretly Robbie Baldwin, aka Speedball, and that he is fighting his former friends and tries to reach out with his mind to make Penance remember his past.[3] Unfortunately, none of the Avengers Underground members know that either.

Trying to stop this, Terrance is able to alter reality around them making the battle scene look like Hell. This causes Penance to freak out and attack Taskmaster instead. Or so it seemed. In reality, this was the work of Nightmare who appears before the combatants and begins using his powers to create various inhuman horrors to attack them. Then, to further amuse himself, Nightmare uses his magic to make Penance remember who he really is. Remembering his time as Speedball, the Stamford Disaster, and becoming Penance to atone for his mistakes causes Robbie to curl up into a ball on the ground.

Nightmare then uses his powers to create dream illusions of the Initiative recruits that Taskmaster sent to their deaths when they retook Prison 42.[4] For Hardball (Roger Brockridge) he is haunted by the image of his brother Paul, who accuses him of failing to find a cure for his condition.[5] Cloud 9 (Abby Boylen), meanwhile, is haunted by all the people she has killed with her sniper training since joining the Initiative. Seeing that Nightmare has possessed Trauma, she tries to reach out to him and get him to fight back against his father. However, Nightmare is far too powerful and is tempting his son to allow him to succeed as they can rule the Earth together.[6] When the Hood (Parker Robbins) tries to attack Nightmare, he causes the petty crook to see his worst nightmare: His wife and daughter dead as a result of his criminal activities.

Meanwhile, Tigra, the Scarlet Spider, and Slapstick have gotten into Camp HAMMER to rescue Night Thrasher. After sending Slapstick to help the others, Greer and the Spider interrupt Baron Von Blitzschlag in his lab before he has a chance to vivisect Donyell. The Baron stops and tries to ply the Scarlet Spider to join him, but he resists the temptation and helps Tigra free Night Thrasher.[7] They head back outside where Tigra convinces Penance to get up and fight, empathizing with his situation. This snaps Robbie out of it and he uses his powers on Nightmare, adding more resistance that allows Trauma to start breaking free. Seeing that the battle is going south, Nightmare decides to retreat while he can, as he has other plans in motion.[8] As he departs, the demon vows to his son that he’ll be back.

With the immediate battle over, Taskmaster and the Hood gather their forces to take down the Avengers Underground. that’s when Penance uses his powers to rupture a gas main to separate the two groups between a wall of fire so Justice and the others can escape. Vance thanks Penance for his help calling him a hero, something Baldwin really wanted to hear. Trauma decides to go with them, but before he goes he asks Robbie why he didn’t reveal who he really is. Robbie explains that he can’t let his friends know what he has become after knowing him as the carefree Speedball. He thanks Terrance for reuniting him with his cat, Niels, which allowed him to start remembering who he is.[9]

After this experience, the Hood has had enough and walks out because he has other matters to attend to, not caring how Taskmaster proceeds with things moving forward. When Taskmaster asks Penance if he really does remember his past, he responds by saying he’ll be in his quarters if anyone needs him and warns them not to need him.

Hours later, as Night Thrasher recovers from his ordeals, Gauntlet gets a call from their mole on the inside. As it turns out, their mole is Diamondback, however as she is telling them how Camp HAMMER has been compromised she is caught by the Constrictor!

Recurring Characters

Initiative staff: Taskmaster, The Hood, Baron Von Blitzschlag, Trauma

Trainees: Scorcher Graduates: Diamondback, Hardball, Quicksand

Shadow Initiative (Constrictor, Penance, Ringer), Avengers Resistance (Justice, Gauntlet, Night Thrasher, Rage, Scarlet Spider, Slapstick, Tigra, Ultragirl), Nightmare (in flashback) Naomi and Jerry Ward

Continuity Notes

  1. Trauma’s connection to Nightmare was first revealed in Avengers: The Initiative Special #1.

  2. Night Thrasher was captured in Avengers: The Initiative #28.

  3. Lots to unpack about Penance here (see what I did there?):

    • Previously known as Speedball, he was one of the New Warriors who was involved in the Stamford Disaster in Civil War #1. At the time of this story, he is the only known survivor and was used as a scapegoat for the incident. After being dragged through the legal system, he took on the Penance persona to atone for his past mistakes, as seen in Civil War: Front Line #2-10.

    • Since then, he has undergone brainwashing to make him forget his past, as seen in Penance: Relentless #1-5.

    • Robbie was a founding member of the New Warriors, as seen in New Warriors #1.

  4. Prison 42 was taken over by Blastaar in Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #8-10, it was later liberated by the Shadow Initiative in Avengers: The Initiative #27. Pictured here are Johnny Guitar, Slaughter Boy, and Firearms who were all killed in that fight. As of this writing (August, 2024), these characters are all considered among the decased.

  5. As revealed in Avengers: The Initiative Special #1, Roger’s brother was a wrestler who underwent the Power Broker’s strength augmentation process. However, he suffered a side effect that caused his muscles to grow to the point where he was completely immobilized. Roger has been trying to find a cure for him ever since.

  6. Nightmare states here that he has a new Sorcerer Supreme to crush. The dream demon has been a long standing antagonist of Doctor Strange since Strange Tales #110. At the time of this story, Strange had become unworthy of the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme and began looking for a successor in New Avengers Annual #2. He eventually chose Brother Voodoo (Jericho Drumm) in New Avengers #54. This will remain the status quo until Strange wins back the mantle in New Avengers (vol. 2) #34.

  7. As explained in Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1, the Baron created the Scarlet Spiders by mixing his own DNA with clones of Michael Van Patrick (aka MVP who died in Avengers: The Initiative #1). Here, the Baron reminds Patrick that his two clone brothers are dead. Van was killed by KIA (another clone of MVP) in issue #10, while Michael was killed by a clone of Thor in Avengers: The Initiative #22.

  8. For more on where Nightmare goes next, see Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #2-5.

  9. Trauma reunited Penance with Niels last issue. The cat was bombarded with the same energies and gained the same powers as Robbie back in Speedball #1.