After hurtling along at over 200 mph only for a few short minutes, the shuttle slowed to a stop and the hatch opened. The heroes were standing on a platform identical to the one they had departed from.
The scene before them surely seemed to be the fragmented memories of some forgotten nightmare.
Clutched in the metallic arms of 2 fearsome Dreadnought robots was the limp body of Captain America and the armor of Iron Man...could it be?
Suddenly, the hideously scarred face of a laughing man appeared on a huge monitor above a door at the end of the tunnel. He wore mirrored sunglasses and was totally bald, with a toothy grin he mocked the heroes "Ha! Ha! You're too late, Thor. Too late, far too late...TOO LATE!! IRON MAN AND CAPTAIN AMERICA ARE DEAD!!!!"
"Who art thou," rumbled the thunder god. "That wouldst dare assault the Avengers?!"
"I am called The Chemist," smirked the huge face, "and i have been waiting for the Avengers to meddle in my affairs. Thus, i am prepared for our meeting. And now, Thor, it is your time to DIE!!"
The Chemist flicks a switch and Thor dropped to his knees in agony. With his powerful hands clawing at his ears, the god of thunder screamed "MY MIND IS RIPPING ASUNDER!!"
The smiling Chemist turns his reflective gaze towards the Heroes For Hire. "I was expecting the Avengers, but i had not anticipated your interference. Nevertheless, you can be dealt with as well...with a little more effort! DREADNOUGHTS ATTACK!!"
The fierce robots dropped the lifeless forms of Captain America and Iron Man, and turned their steely murderous eyes upon the Heroes For Hire. Writhing in anguish, Thor cried out to the Heroes For Hire "By the gods! Only thou canst save the Avengers!"
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The Dreadnoughts use every weapon in their arsenals disposal to try to eliminate the Heroes For Hire. Unlike the Dreadnought at the Oriental Garden, these two were not armed with self-destructing explosives or a control panel. Thor was able to get in a few tremendous licks with his hammer before falling prone.
When the Heroes For Hire destroy the Dreadnoughts Daredevil goes to the Avengers and uses his heightened senses to learn that they are not dead, but are slowly weakening and will die if whatever is affecting them was not shut off.
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The Chemist cursed the Heroes before switching off the huge monitor, "Fools, before you can penetrate the outer-doors my Avenger-Killer will have done its work once-and-for-all, and I'll be long gone! There is nothing you can do to save the Avengers!"
Next to the door was an electronic control panel, which opened and closed the portal. By short-circuiting the panel, Moon Knight released the outer-door steel alloy lock.
Before them was The Chemist's personal chamber of scientific horrors! Strange, exotic-colored gases and liquid bubbled in gas beakers and tubes. On a worktable lied the corpse of a young girl, her face frozen in a mask of fear and a syringe sticking from her arm.
Thin and sickly, 2 of The Chemist's living test subjects called out to the Heroes from their cell. "Help us!! For God's sake, help us!!"
Freeing the captives, they offered up any helpful information.
"Where is The Chemist?" Cloak & Dagger asked.
"He left in an elevator with his several lab technicians." a captive replied.
"Where does the elevator go?" Cloak asked.
"Some floating platform on the ocean's surface."
"What's killing the Avengers?" Daredevil asked.
The frightened captives collectively pointed to a computer console on the far wall.
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Cloak & Dagger split from Moon Knight and Daredevil to pursue The Chemist while the others stay and try to shutdown the Avenger-killer.
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The elevator door opened with a whoosh, and Cloak & Dagger found themselves in the midst of a thunderstorm. Lightning flashed and whipping wind drove bitingly cold rain into their faces. The platform rose and fell crazily with the lashing waves.
Looking through the chaos of the storm, Dagger vaguely saw the outlines of 3 men who were loading the last of several crates onto a hydro-foil. They jumped aboard and a familiar bald man pulled the throttle. With a shrieking laugh that rose above the howling wind, The Chemist headed off into the pouring rain and the Atlantic.
Teleporting to the boat using Cloak's darkness ability, Cloak & Dagger captured the boat. However, the Chemist and his Maggia scientist henchmen did not surrender without a fight. The technicians were armed with handguns, while the Chemist carried a variety of deadly items.
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A bizarre computer console took up an entire wall of the Chemist's lab. Blinking lights and flashing monitors attested that it was still functioning.
Looking closer, Moon Knight noticed that each of the monitors displayed a small portrait and technical information about 6 separate Avengers. There was data concerning Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Vision. The status reports concerning Thor, Cap, and Iron Man were overlaid with flashing letters that spelled: "SYSTEMS ACTIVATED".
The Maggia had somehow received data of the 6 Avengers' brain-wave patterns(not an easy or inexpensive task), and utilized it to develop this monstrous mind-shredding weapon. By emitting an invisible, telepathic signal the device could disrupt the Avengers' brainwave from over 100 feet away.
Moon Knight and Daredevil had to act quickly and safely. If they were to simply smash the machine or turn off the power, the Avengers would no longer be dying, but be trapped in an indeterminately long coma. Moon Knight had to learn how to operate the device and slowly restore the Avengers to their normal brain capacity.
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When the Avengers are revived, they graciously thank the Heroes For Hire. The Heroes For Hire are then invited and requested to the Avengers Mansion in order to fully discuss the events that had occurred. For the moment, however, the Avengers are desperate to find what the lab was used for. By asking the Chemist's former prisoners, and by simply looking around, the Avengers find illegal drugs that had been produced in the lab. The prisoners were being forced to take the drugs per The Chemist's evil experiment. Surprisingly, only a small quantity of the drug remained in the lab. The technicians had loaded most of it onto the hydro-foil before the heroes arrived. When Cloak & Dagger captured the boat they confiscated over a thousand pounds of crack and Oxi onboard. By confiscating the drugs, and ending the smuggling ring, they had just saved hundreds of lives.
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