On Mon, 8 Feb 1999, Samy Merchi wrote: >Spanish Inquisition (as in, "Nobody expects the...") ;) "More mead, Master Thor?" "Nay, thankyou, loyal Jarvis!" Thor said as he patted the butler on the back, and then placed his empty mug on the meeting table, looking over to Captain America. "So, what sayest thou, valiant Captain? Shall we accept young Grey's petition for membership?" "I think he's a good candidate, Thor", Steve Rogers nodded as he flipped thru the folder in his hands. "His teammates say he's an upstanding person. Loyal, reliable, good-looking --" He blinked, and squinted at the papers in the folder, then turned his head to regard the feline Avenger. "Tigra --!" Tigra drew her lips to a pout and curled up in her chair by pulling her knees up against her chest. "Well, that's what I was told! You told me to write down everything they told me!" [Appearances notwithstanding], Vision remarked, [I do believe John Grey has potential. Despite his ordeals, he demonstrated to me remarkable psychological integrity and maturity unusual for one his age, and especially one who has underwent the same experiences as he.] "I guess it's true what they say, about 'whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'", commented Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye the Marksman. "So what do you think, Dane?" he asked, glancing towards the Black Knight. "Well, telepathy and telekinesis are both powers that none of of us have", Dane Whitman said, looking over the assemblage of six Avengers. "So he would fit in well. And I have to admit, I'd love to work with him on exploring his powers, researching how telekinesis works on an atomic level, and maybe help him expand his powers..." "Altruistic much?" Clint smiled innocently. "That's enough, Clint", Captain America said sternly. "You know that's not what Dane meant." He rubbed his chin briefly, and then nodded. "I think it's time to vote, unless anyone has any arguments to add?" "I think he's too young", Hawkeye said. "Says the guy who ran off to join a carnival when he was a kid", commented the Black Knight. "You didn't exactly have to risk your life at the carnival on a daily basis", Clint replied calmly, inspecting an arrow he pulled out of his quiver thoughtfully. [John Grey has proven himself capable of this demanding line of work in the past, Hawkeye], Vision commented. "Aye", Thor agreed. "I have heard Doctor Xavier herself vouch for the lad's dedication and power. There be no objections from my side against his joining." Captain America nodded slowly. "All right." He put the folder down onto the meeting table, and then looked to the Avenger at his left-hand side. "About the Avenger membership of John Grey -- Dynamo -- how do you vote?" he asked Thor. "Aye." "Vision?" [Affirmative.] "Hawkeye?" "Might as well make this unanimous. Yeah." "Tigra?" "Mmyes." "Black Knight?" BUH-WHOOM! "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!" Captain America shouted as he pulled his indestructible shield in front of him, as the wall exploded inwards, and debris showered into the meeting room. With soft THUNK! sounds, pieces of rock and plaster ricocheted off his shield and onto the floor. "Who DARES--?" Thor asked, spinning his hammer around to create a wind which blew the dust in the air away thru the newly-created hole in the wall. "Who DARES assault the AVENGERS in our own abode --!" "NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!" Beatrice screamed as she unleashed a barrage of telekinetic force which slammed right into Thor. "DIE, FALSE GOD!" THOOM! THOOm! THOom! THoom! Thoom! The sound of Thor smashing thru several walls was heard, but before the final one echoed in the meeting room, Hawkeye had already nocked and fired an arrow. "Who is this bozo??" he yelled to his teammates. "Oh dear god --" Dane Whitman stopped dead in his tracks after pulling his sword, when his eyes met with Beatrice's. "You..." he whispered under his breath. *** "What was that??" John Grey blinked as a tremor ran thru the house. "I do not know, Master Grey --" Jarvis answered, puzzled, just barely managing to keep the teapot on his tray from spilling any of the darjeeling. "But I fear it has come from the lower levels -- the Avengers may be under attack..." *** [What is the meaning of this attack?] Vision asked, as crimson optic blasts erupted from his eyes, blasting across the meeting room and crashing onto Beatrice's telekinetic shields like water onto a wavebreaker. [What is it you seek --?] "Less talk, more action, Vizh!" Hawkeye shouted. "WhoEVER the babe is, she ripped my net to pieces with an eyeblink --" His eyes narrowed. "But I bet you won't do that with this arrow --" he muttered under his breath, and before the sentence was finished, a new arrow was nocked and let loose. SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! "ARRRGH!" Beatrice screamed as the sonic arrow whistled thru the air, disrupting her concentration, and thereby, her telekinetics. She fell onto her knees on the floor, using her hands to cover her ears, but in vain. A star-spangled shield whistled thru the air, ricocheted off a wall, and then hit Beatrice's head, knocking her further on a loop. As she was reeling, the shield bounced off a few more walls, before ending up back in Captain America's hand. "I apologize for that, miss -- but you forced my hand with your unprovoked attack... Now, would you like to tell us what this is all about?" "Heretics", Beatrice hissed as the Avengers foolishly gave her a moment to clear her head. "Everywhere." With that word, the eyes of Captain America, Tigra, Black Knight and Hawkeye suddenly went blank. [A most curious development], Vision said calmly as the four other Avengers suddenly turned towards him. *** "Thor! Thor! Are you all right??" A faint groan slowly issued from the Asgardian's lips, and his eyes fluttered open. "Grey --?" he asked, seeing the redhead's face in front of his eyes, and then, his expression turned stormy. "By my father's beard -- no woman shall treat THOR, GOD OF THUNDER in such a manner, and go unpunished!" he growled as he recalled what had happened. He stood up, exuding aura and power like no one John had ever seen before. "Verily, I shall smite her mightily with my wrath --!" *** The skies darkened above Manhattan. A thunderclap rocked the air. A burst of lightning lit up the sky. Rain started pouring down like tears over a long-lost world. *** "An automaton in human form", Beatrice murmured as she watched Vision -- whom she had been unable to telepathically influence -- fight his four teammates. "Truly, this world has changed a great deal since I last walked upon it. And not at all for the better." Her voice raised, as she started giving verbal commands to the Avengers she had mindcontrolled. "SLAY him, my followers! DESTROY the mechanical man-machine, this aberration in the Lord's plan! NONE save He may create life! NONE may make a mockery of His power!" [While I am flattered by your considering me 'alive', stranger], Vision said as Tigra leaped towards the synthezoid, and found herself leaping right thru his intangible form and slamming into the wall behind him, [I must inform you that these four Avengers do not have the capability to harm me at my lowest density. This limitation evidently extends to you. However], he continued, and fired a blast of solar energy from the gem on his forehead which impacted onto Beatrice's telekinetic shields uselessly, [...I find I am similarly incapable of affecting you at present.] The Black Knight slashed his sword thru the Vision, but to as much effect as Tigra's attack. "Yeah well", Hawkeye said, "maybe *I* don't have the capability, but how about the latest nifty-dandy addition to my arsenal?" He let loose an arrow, which detonated just before hitting the Vision with no sound and a burst of light. Suddenly, the machinery in the meeting room began sparking and short circuiting, even as the Vision screamed, and then collapsed onto the floor, tangible again, like a puppet with his strings cut. "The EMP arrow", Clint Barton smiled, self-pleased. "BASE VILLAIN!" Thor roared as he showed up in the hole he had made in the meeting room wall. "Never have I witnessed such perfidy as I do today -- enslaving the valiant AVENGERS to thy will! By my troth, thou wilt FALL this day for this foul deed, if it take mine immortal soul to ensure this!" Before his words were finished, his magical hammer, Mjolnir, already whistled thru the air, sparking with magical energy and the fury of a god. John Grey's eyes opened wide, and he was going to say something, but it was too late. KRAKA-THOOMMM! The explosion was immense, as Thor's Asgardian might collided with Beatrice's telekinetic shields. An inbreachable object against an irresistible force. The shockwave from the impact rattled the entire sub-basement of Avengers Mansion, destroying every single viewscreen, everything made out of weaker materials than concrete. Beatrice, herself, was blown back, much as he had done to Thor, thru several walls, though the sound of it was concealed under the monstrous thunderclap of the initial impact itself. "Dear lord --" John Grey whispered thru gritted teeth, having just barely maintained a telekinetic shield between the Avengers and the impact, which saved them from probably having their ears and eyes burst. He stumbled backwards slightly from the exertion, but caught himself by leaning back against a wall. Thor, in the meanwhile, did not waste time. As was fit for a Warrior Born, he ran thru the room, to the new hole Beatrice had made in the wall, and peered thru it. Then, warily, holding Mjolnir -- which had returned to his hand after the strike -- tightly, he stepped thru the hole, and went after the base villain. "He fights the mistress", Tigra growled viciously, and tensed up, then pounced forwards, her claws raking the air in front of her as she prepared to rend Dynamo apart. SHFLANNGG! The second time in about as many minutes, Tigra, instead of getting to her target, impacted onto something far tougher than her. She groaned, and slumped to the floor, leaving behind only the object in midair which had appeared there to intercept her leap. A star-spangled shield, onto which was attached the strong, unwavering arm of Captain America. "Good work, son", he said to John, before turning his attention towards Hawkeye and the Black Knight. "I managed to break our mysterious visitor's hold by myself when Thor attacked her. Clint and Dane, it would seem -- haven't", he said, narrowing his eyes. "Can you use your telepathy while I try to distract them?" "Consider it done, Cap!" Dynamo said, and pushed himself off the wall, surrounding himself with a telekinetic bubble, and then starting to amass his telepathic power. CLANG! A metallic echo rang thru the meeting room briefly, but died out in a few split seconds as the vibranium in Captain America's shield absorbed the resonance of the impact with the Black Knight's sword. "Fight it, Dane!" Steve Rogers shouted. "You're an Avenger! You can defeat her power!" "Hey, Cap!" Hawkeye's voice shouted. "Defeat this!" Suddenly, three arrows with different-looking arrowheads whistled thru the air towards the Sentinel of Liberty. KA-BOOM! The first arrow impacted the shield dead center, and unleashed an explosion -- much smaller than the one when Mjolnir and Beatrice's shields had collided, but still large enough to knock Captain America backwards into a wall with the shockwave. The second arrow hit right after that, impacting not onto Captain America, but the self-same wall. Upon impact, it erupted in a burst of whitish goo. "Super-adhesive arrow!" Hawkeye sneered, even as the final arrow hit, this time the shield again. The arrowhead burst into a cloud of greenish gas. "No use struggling, stars-and-stripes -- you won't break the glue before the gas gets you!" "No", the Black Knight said, "but he doesn't have to!" Suddenly, Dane Whitman's sword slashed thru Hawkeye's bow, cleaving it in two. "Give it up, Hawkeye, and let Grey free your mind!" "...and the rest will follow!" Hawkeye smiled as he lashed his foot out, kicking the Black Knight straight in the gut. "Really, Dane, I expect more out of you than quoting bad En Vogue lyrics --" "UNFF!" Dane Whitman groaned and stumbled backwards, bringing his sword in front of him defensively. "You aren't in your right mind, Clint -- fight it -- or let us fight it for you -- but dammit, Clint, I know you're more stubborn than this -- don't fight US, fight IT! I know you won't let yourself be played this easy!" Clint Barton paused briefly, just after pulling an arrow from his quiver and preparing to throw it at the Black Knight. "I --" His eyes narrowed, he bit his lip -- "I've GOT him!" John Grey snarled, and, forced his way into Hawkeye's mind. "There's someone else in here --" "Beatrice!" the Black Knight shouted. "Her name is Beatrice!" (( Beatrice -- )) John Grey spoke in Clint Barton's mind. (( Let him go, or I will *make* you let him go! )) "ARRRGH!" Dynamo screamed, and fell to his knees, the telepathic bubble around him dissipating as he drew on its power to fight against the intruder. "She's powerful --" he hissed, as sweat started pouring down his face. "Come on, Hawk!" Dane shouted, slapping the back of his hand across the blank, zombiesque Hawkeye's cheek, as the archer just stood there while the battle took place in his mindscape. "Fight her! Help Grey, dammit!" "I'm...getting...there..." John Grey growled, and then, suddenly, another massive tremor shook the sub-levels, plaster falling from the roof, the walls crumbling slightly. "Thor's taking her on physically -- she can't defend on two fronts at the same time --" Dane Whitman looked around at the unconscious Tigra on the floor, Captain America hanging gassed on the wall, Vision scrambled and on the floor near Tigra, and Hawkeye just standing there. "Can you handle things in here?" he asked suddenly. "I'll...have...to...won't...I?" Dynamo grunted, one word at a time, as he waged a merciless battle within Hawkeye's mind. *** "FOR ASGARD! FOR EARTH! FOR THE AVENGERS!" Thor yelled as he brought Mjolnir down with all his might. Again, the sub-levels trembled before his Asgardian might as he drove Beatrice to her knees underneath her telekinetic shields. "This...cannot be!" Beatrice cried out in despair. "I can not be defeated! I do the Lord's work! You are but a faithless barbarian! You can not defeat me --!!" On one front, she was mercilessly hammered by a mallet against few forces in the world could stand -- on another front, the telepathic might of John Grey -- Dynamo -- kept pounding at her. She felt her foothold on Hawkeye's mind slipping...slipping... "ENOW!" Thor's bellow rang out thru the corridors, as he brought Mjolnir around in a furious backhand which smashed onto Beatrice's shields. Again, she was flung back, and thru a number of walls. "Thou hast incurred the wrath of the SON OF ODIN, woman, and by my blood, there will be PAYMENT for thy honorless attack --!" he growled as he stalked thru a hole in the wall and after Beatrice. *** "I've GOT him!" Dynamo sneered triumphantly as he let out a gasp of relief, wiping sweat off his face as he stumbled backwards, and sat down onto one of the remaining chairs in the meeting room, to rest. "Thanks, kid", Clint Barton said as he leaned forwards onto the table with his hands, and took a few deep breaths to steady himself. Then, he blinked, and looked around. "Where's Dane?" *** "It's over, Beatrice." "Who --?" Beatrice asked, looking up as she was catching her breath from Thor's blow. "Do you remember -- Eobar Garrington?" the Black Knight simply asked, as he stood beside Beatrice's downed and gasping form, his sword sheathed, his hands open. "Eobar --?" Beatrice's eyes widened for a moment. Then, they narrowed. "This is a trick --!" Psionic energy started welling up around her, stronger than before, now that she no longer wasted her power in maintaining control over Hawkeye, and in psionic battle with Dynamo. "It's no trick, Beatrice", Dane Whitman said, and held his open arms out to her. "I have the memories of Eobar Garrington, the Black Knight. How he loved you --" "NO!" she screamed with wide eyes, and unleashed a telekinetic blast at the Black Knight, blasting him backwards and into a wall. "It can't be -- no, not Eobar --" she gasped as she saw Dane Whitman's form slump unconscious against the wall. "Odin's wrath be upon thee, wench!" Thor rumbled as he stalked in. "Hast thou now ambushed the brave and true Black Knight?? Come, if you dare, and meet the Son of Odin in single combat!" "I WILL!" Beatrice snarled, whirling towards Thor, and casting her arms towards him as she blasted out at him with her powers. "I will DESTROY you, false god! I will not fall to the likes of you --!" "I SAY THEE NAY!" Thor roared, as he was knocked backwards into a wall, and then flung Mjolnir again, the mallet burning thru the air, leaving a crackling path of might behind it, before hitting Beatrice's shields with a powerful shockwave. "Never has Odin's firstborn son yielded in battle, and never shall he do so!" "Then I shall MAKE you do so!" Beatrice screamed viciously as she unleashed yet another relentless barrage of force in the Asgardian's direction. (( No. You won't. )) With that, the battle was joined, as John Grey stood in a doorway, and gritting his teeth, lashed out with a telepathic mindblast. (( I don't know WHO you are, or WHAT you want from us, but you've just TICKED ME OFF, and, to coin a phrase, the ANGRIER Dynamo gets, the LESS DYNAMO HOLDS BACK!! )) "AIIIRGH!" Beatrice winced from the stab at her mind, and turned to glare at John Grey. He looked between John and Thor, and then noticed Hawkeye standing in another doorway. Her lips pulled back into a vicious scowl. "You have this day, heretics", she snarled, "but I will be back, and I will bring this house of false worship down upon your heads!!" With that, a whirlwind suddenly surrounded Beatrice, and in a few eyeblinks -- she was gone. Hawkeye quirked an eyebrow. "That's a babe with some serious issues." *** "Black Knight?" "Yes." Captain America smiled, and looked over his five teammates sitting down at the meeting table. Then, he stood up, and extended a hand to John Grey. "Congratulations, son. And welcome to the AVENGERS." *** P.S. Yes, this REALLY did all stem from the fact that I wanted to write a scene where she bursts in, screaming, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" P.S.2. Allie, I'm in charge of the Avengers. Will this do, or want me to revise something? ;) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -- Samy Merchi 1999 / samerc@utu.fi / http://mash.yok.utu.fi/~samerc/ | | "Better to learn to love | "You're some hombre, arn't'cha, 'Berto? | | with those you can't have, | Who d'you think runs this outfit, | | than to learn to have | anyway?" | | with those you can't love." | "Professor Xavier -- for the present." | | -- me | -- Dani and Roberto, THE NEW MUTANTS | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fresh flowers are the perfect way to say "I love you". Shipped direct from the grower, Proflowers.com has arrangements from $29.95 plus S&H. Click here: http://offers.egroups.com/click/216/0 eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/xxy Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com