I hope you like this. Spoilers, it's not gonna be a one-shot.
&
Danny sighed as he ended the call with Fury, he took in a deep breath trying to balance his chi. Key word, trying.
"Are you kidding me? You almost blew me to bits!" Peter's voice cut through the air as Danny breathed in and out.
"But I didn't, besides you're the one who got in the way," Sam added with a cocky grin.
"I was following the PLAN, ever hear one before?" Peter threw his hands up in exasperation. He started to get fed up with Sam, with all the petty pranks and passive-aggressiveness floating around things were starting to get a bit hostile. Peter decided to turn away, he needed a moment to calm down. What Sam said next brought the rage back.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Peter's head snapped to Sam.
"What was that?" Sam smirked.
"Nothing." Peter felt his rage boil over.
"Just because you think you're some big shot, doesn't mean you get to order me around." Sam's smile fell, and Peter felt a bit of pride at that. "Besides it's not like you were much of a challenge."
"Well, at least I'm not a criminal." Sam looked furious as he floated closer to Peter. Face to face, they stared each other down. Danny's voice cut through the night, usually, it was calm and almost soft. But this time he sounded furious.
"ENOUGH!" Danny yelled, and the two other heroes flinched and snapped their heads to Danny. Peter had never seen Danny this angry before and honestly, neither has Sam. "Do you know why we had to retreat. It was because you bickered the entire time, distracting each other, and because of that we were compromised."
Sam lowered his head, Danny was right, and it stung. Danny is his friend, and he almost saw him as a brother, as family. He felt shame burn in his chest as he glared at Peter, Peter however was more reserved, he looked sad behind his mask. Sam didn't let that fool him, he was gonna apologize first. Besides, he thought it was the least he could do for Danny. "I'm sorry, really."
"Yeah, me too," Peter said as if he was caught off guard, I guess they didn't have apology lessons in thieves' school.
"If you both are truly sorry, then stop acting like children. Along with the petty pranks. I didn't step in because I trusted you both to handle it on your own." Danny let out a sigh, of course he knew, he was the most observant on the team. His shoulders fell, and he donned a solemn look on his face. "Perhaps I expected too much."
Sam and Peter snapped their heads up to look at Danny, then each other, and finally back to Danny. Peter was one to break the silence that engulfed them. "We can get along, seriously you don't have to worry anymore."
Sam found himself agreeing with Peter, at least to comfort Danny. "Yeah, we can work this out."
Sam felt the guilt and shame swallowing him whole, he didn't mean to put Danny in the crossfire of their petty war. The only thing he could think of in that moment was that Danny was disappointed in him. He shouldn't have started it in the first place, especially after Mrs. Parker and Peter offered for them to stay in their home. Sam opened his mouth to apologize again, but froze when he saw the circle of purple light under their feet. He saw that before, he took in Danny's confused and fearful expression as Danny pushed them both out of the circle, and away from danger. Sam rocketed towards him. He was just an inch away from Danny's hand when he vanished. Sam just passed through the air, and Danny wasn't anywhere on the rooftop, like he had vanished. Sam didn't know if he was thinking straight but he felt anger rising in him, someone was responsible for this. Sam flew and grabbed Peter slamming him up against the brick wall on the same roof.
"What happened?!" Sam was enraged, Peter had to have something to do with this. Maybe he wanted Danny all to himself. Osborn might've gotten his hands on some alien technology. But someone he knew, a familiar voice, snapped him back to his thoughts.
"Hey! Nova what's goin' on?" Rocket, his mentor, he almost sighed in relief upon seeing him. Blaster out and ready to strike. "Who's this guy?"
Sam tossed Peter to the ground, sneering down at him as he responded. "Just some criminal." Ok, maybe Peter wasn't responsible for this, but that doesn't mean he's gonna let Peter come with them. "If this is what I think it is then we need to go now."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Peter tried to get up but was blasted back by Rocket and fell to the floor. "Ugh."
Sam felt a little bad at that, but this wasn't Peter's place. "Let's go."
He saw the familiar blue hue of light form under his feet as he stood by his mentor, he was gonna save Danny. Sam didn't see how Peter sat up and flipped over the wall and right behind the two. Without looking behind them they were beamed up to Rocket's ship.
-
Danny felt an odd sensation wash over him, and then he felt his feet practically stuck to the floor of the roof. He felt as if his body was stretched as he reached for Sam, he barely grazed his fingers as he vanished.
Now he was somewhere else entirely, but that wasn't what had frightened him. When he looked around he saw heroes, not just any, the most formidable heroes he'd heard of. Even ones he's never met. They were each trapped in glass tubes, floating in some kind of liquid, masks on their faces. Their eyes were closed as if they were asleep. He knew he needed to leave this prison, he lit his fist with those golden flames, rearing back and punching the glass with all his strength. Nothing.
The glass didn't shatter or even crack, it was still in perfect condition. He tried again and again but still nothing. Then he heard a laugh, deep, almost guttural. He turned and saw a man clad in red armor, sitting in what looked to be an elevated throne. Sam had told him about this dictator, and he had read about him in the SHIELD database. "Korvac, I presume."
Korvac smiled, "Correct human, do not fight, it will only make this harder, for you." Danny punched the glass again in defiance, Korvac's smile vanished. He turned to one of the creatures at his side, a creature with exposed teeth that made a shiver travel up Danny's spine. He ordered, "Start the machine."
The creature tapped something on a screen, then Danny heard a small noise inside his glass cage. It sounded like it was above him, he snapped his head up to see what it was and dodged a claw that tried to grab him. He was not able to avoid the second claw as it grabbed at his wrist. He tried to pry the claw off him using his free hand. His other hand was grabbed and his arms were held above him. He struggled and squirmed in their hold as the machine poked and prodded, analyzing him. He was a bit relieved at the fact that Korvac left, as he wouldn't hear the embarrassing squeaks that left his lips. The machine scanned and poked at him, and finally, a metallic claw that looked like a snake came down. Before he could process anything it moved clamping down on his back, where he felt a prick. It retreated as quickly as it came.
When it was finally done, the real horror started. A mask similar to those the others had on was clamping down on his face tightly. His hands now released he clawed and struggled to take off the mask as the tank was filling with liquid. Then he smelled something, it was sweet, it reminded him of jasmine tea. His body felt heavy, his mind groggy as he struggled to hold his breath. However, it was as if his own body was breathing it in against his will. The tank was nearly half full, and he kept clawing desperately at the mask. The tank continued to fill, now it was to his chest, and Danny started to feel his legs give out, he was so tired. He put his hand to the glass to steady himself, he felt the water reach his ears. What was he doing again, he was on the rooftop with Peter and Sam, he was angry, and now he's tired. He needs to rest, and so his eyes close as the tank fills to the top, and he finally drifts off into sleep, the scent akin to jasmine tea filling his senses. He felt peaceful, as the world outside the tank faded away.
Cover Date: February 1978
On-Sale Date: November 15, 1977
The Avengers are in the early stages of the Korvac saga. As Korvac was initially introduced in a Defenders tale, I suppose it's appropriate for Doc to have a very brief cameo here. To summarize, Korvac is mad at everyone, has gone back in time after gaining god-like powers and is planning on taking over the universe. It's a long affair involving the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. I actually prefer the What-If(#32) issue where Korvac wins and if you want a nice summary that's the best place to look. Doc's role is to "feel something" as Korvac and Starhawk fight. It amounts to a whopping two panels!
Doc is saying this after playing around with a cosmic wheel that turned everyone on Earth into bipedal animals. Jim Shooter wasn't EIC of Marvel yet so maybe he missed that.
