Avengers: Warlord of Baluur #3 (of 3)

Absent-mindedly, Maelstrom knits Blastaar a sweater of steel drawn from a pile of girders on the ground below as he hums and haws his way through an explanation of how he might have lost the rod when he had one job and one job only.

"Maybe I should just stick to monitoring the Communications Room..."

"NO you shouldn't. You have done great things today. As did all of us." She nods to Rad. "You too." She continues to address Mal, "Don't beat yourself up for something that you are ASSUMING was your fault. All of our powers are at times unpredictable. You have no idea what that rod can do or what protections it has. We don't even know if that mystery red man was a hero or villian. Let's just have Blastaar taken away and then concentrate on the rod."

Beorn looks sheepish. "Okay. Well, all I know about him was that ... hey! Who is this Bubble man?"

Beorn just clued in that he has never seen this fellow before, though judging by his costume and powers, he must be an Avenger. "Ummm...help? Did you see where the red man went?"

Pulsar returns the still-stunned Blastaar to the rooftop and Rad fits him with the inhibitor borrowed from the F4. Once he fully recovers his wits, Blastarr fires an energy blast, point blank, into Pulsar's chest (since he is standing over him, he is the closest). Pulsar is completely unphased and unaffected. His powers greatly reduced, Blastaar takes no further offensive action, lest he embarass himself further.

A shimmering light engulfs the rooftop for several seconds before fading and revealing five new arrivals that have just teleported in…Nick Fury, Agent 13, and three other agents of SHIELD, all armed to the teeth with firearms that look too impossibly large to actually carry.

They quickly scan and point their weapons on Blastaar before realizing he has effectivly been neutered. "Great work, guys", he says look at each of you individually, "...and lady", he adds when his eyes meet EnergyStar's.
Turning to Bubbles, Nick, with a mildly confused look on his face, asks ”Who’re you supposed to be…Beach Boy?”
Bubbles instantly recognizes Nick Fury…that guy’s a living legend!

not that it matters but Rad has his own Nullifier bands(-7cs) as part of his own equipment.

Rad inquires if he can return to the FF to try to do something about those locks now.

Either will do!

After a quick introduction by Bubbles (still to be posted), Nick offers to teleport all of you back to the SHIELD satellite for a quick debrief. From there, he can teleport you back to F4HQ if you like.
Actually, two of you could return to the satellite in the (one remaining) BRAVE module as well, if you like.
...
Back on the SHIELD satellite, Nick debriefs the heroes.
Blastaar’s ship managed to limp its way back to the portal and has returned to the Negative Zone.
The portal itself is no longer growing and poses no threat of swallowing the Earth.
Blastaar is in custody and will either be transported to the Vault or returned to the Neutral Zone.
Surprisingly, Nick is not overly upset about the loss of the Cosmic Control Rod. The primary objective was to get it away from Blastaar, which is what you did. Wherever it is now, it is very likely back in the hands of the same individual Blastaar took it from and since that individual hasn’t seemed to cause any trouble with it, Nick is comfortable with it…somewhat, anyway…
Nick thanks all of you for your service, giving each one of you a hearty handshake.
He offers to teleport the whole group back to F4HQ so you can continue your visit.
Just an hour ago, Bubbles was sitting alone on a rooftop overlooking the city. Now Nick Fury is offering to teleport him to Fantastic Four headquarters to hang out with the Avengers!

" I am Bubbles,Very nice to meet you!" Bubbles replies

Nick stares at Bubbles silently for a few seconds before saying "Helluva story ya got there, Bubbles". Nick turns to face the other heroes and rolls his one good eye.
...
Later, on the SHEILD satellite, Bubbles is brought up to speed on the Negative Zone, Baluurians, Blastaar, and the fact that a nuke was recently launched over the planet, but detonated in some "parallel universe" through some hole in the sky.
Whoa.
...
Nick contacts F4HQ to let them know the universe (or at least our small portion of it) is safe again and that he will be teleporting you all back there. The remaining new Avengers (Captain, Jim, Manta Man, Human Torch, etc. - those who accompanied you to dinner) and F4 members have returned from Xavier's Mansion and will be there to greet you. Bova immediately starts running around frantically. More people means warm food must be available. Crystal invites your new "friend" to accompany you back and enjoy some leftover Baked Alaska.
Bubbles would pretty much recognize all the heroes there; Manta Man and Jim being the least famous, he would recognize Jim from the same stories he recognizes Pulsar from.
The only two people Bubbles doesn't recognize is a large, friendly gentleman named Wyatt Wingfoot, who is apparently She-Hulk's boyfriend (Bubbles assumes he is not a super), and a cow that walks on its hind legs and speaks English named Bova. Bubbles is pretty sure he would have remembered Bova if he had heard of her before. She is apparently a cook, and the creator of the dessert you are all now sharing.
...
During the course of the evening:
Radical Warrior goes to see what he can do to help repair the Negative Zone portal "locks".
The silver clad woman that crashed through the HQ roof right before all this started is still unconscious, but resting (you assume) comfortably in the F4's medical lab.
Anything else you folks want to accomplish while you are here (before we roll into issue four)?
I will open up issue four when we are done here (probably Thursday night).

Current Karma Totals:
Bubbles: 180 (+2 Popularity)
EnergyStar: 226 (+1 Weight Increase power stunt attempt)
Maelstrom: 266 (+2 power stunt attempts)
Pulsar: 280 (+1 power stunt attempt)
Radical Warrior: 360

The festivities continue for a short while downstairs as the evening winds down. Rad finds himself alone in the Negative Zone portal room putting some finishing touches on the lock stabilizers. That should hold good, now. That Richards' guy must have been a real genius...fortunately, Rad isn't too bad himself and manages to figure out what mechanisms to repair and replace to get the things in working order again.
As he is finishing up, and laying on his back under an electrical console, a humanoid creature decends rapidly through the recently-hastily-patched hole in the ceiling (the one that silver lady punched in the roof), landing on the floor of the portal room with a resounding THUD, the vibrations of which travel along the floor and send small vibrations through Rad's body.
...

Downstairs, HUBERT, the small flying annoyance, informs Crystal and the rest of the party that an intruder has entered the building on the floor where Radical Warrior was working alone.
...
Upstairs, a large purple humanoid spies Radical Warrior laying on his back and asks in a voice deep enough to make James Earl Jones sound like he's going through puberty:

"Where is my minion?"



To be continued in issue 4 !