Issue Ten: The Marvel Illustrated Swimsuit Issue/Assistant Editor's Month

(Speaking of swimwear...Blackbird's is black, with the logo small, high and to the left, and he kept his trademark mirrored shades with a ski band to ensure they didn't get dislodged.)

An hour later and dripping wet, Blackbird rockets out of the water and to the beach, where he grabs a towel just long enough to dry off the basics before heading for the bar, there to pick up not just one but a small bucket full of beer. (With accompanying ice, of course, and bottles not cans. Someone taught that boy well.)

"Hey, Triathlon!" he calls out to the recent addition to the hero club, waving in the young man's direction. "I've got a couple of people you might want to meet!" If that crack you gave Ms. Van Dynes two hours ago is any indication...

Faster than Blackbird could blink, Delroy Garrett had leaped, flipped, and handsprung his way over to the other man. By the time his eyes had opened, Triathlon was already opening one of the beers. "Sounds good to me, boss-man," the athlete said cheerfully. "You're one of the men in charge and all. Lead the way?"

Yeah...worse than I thought. Worse than I thought, Blackbird said, his eyes impossible to see behind the mirrored sunglasses. "Don't forget that beer you borrowed - they're over this way."

He crosses the length of the building and out around the back, then up an outdoor flight of stairs to one of the smaller decks overlooking the bay. There, two older African-American men were likewise attired in swimwear (if of a different vintage from that of the younger pair). "Hey, Blackbird!" "Took you long enough, zoomie!" they called on sight, waving. Triathlon just looks from one to the other, recognizing neither.

"Yeah, and you just sat there waiting for me to deliver, didn't you?" Blackbird whips back at the former ground-pounder Whitewash. He sets the pail down on the table and grabs one of the bottles himself. "Here we go. Triathlon, meet Whitewash and Prowler. Gents, meet the new kid on the block. I figure he could benefit from a little of your particular brands of experience..."

Nice. Introducing a modern African-American hero to Marvel's very first one. It could have been a very inspiring event for Triathalon even in the mainstream Marvel Universe.

I'm still going to make you donate one Karma point to the Team Karma Pool for shocking the Comics Code Authority with the display of alcohol, though.

And, as a note to myself, I owe Benni 15 Karma for a Marvel No-Prize.

Uh Oh

Energystar was one of the first Avenger's North heroes to have a photo shoot. She was nowhere to be seen for most of the day, but as everyone was enjoying the view of the "boys" she came walking down the beach with an entourage of photographers and make-up people. Her red and yellow bikini was scarce on the material side. She apparently, had been in the water because her hair was wet and the water beaded on her well oiled skin, glistening in the bright sunlight. They moved quickly toward a large boulder on the beach near the water. They set up shop and Energystar was misted up again and made her way to the boulder. She leaned against it and and struck various poses, all the while the cameraman moved around her taking shots from different angles.

Minuteman watched her from the moment she caught his eyes as she passed. She blew him a kiss and he was mesmerized. She slowly walked toward her, almost under a spell and finally joined her at the boulder, inviting himself into the photos. The rest of the "boys" that he left just stared. Dropping the football and Frisbee as they watch the scene unfold.

Jubilee turned and looked at the person next to her, who seemed to be a somewhat more idealized version of Jubilee herself.

"Excuse me," the young mutant said. "What do you think you're doing?"

The copy put a hand to her face.

"It's not me," she said. "Well, not deliberately me."

"So you're just standing there as me plus a couple thousand dollars of plastic surgery," Jubilee said with a bit of irritation.

"It is a bit rude," the Asian woman with a british accent next to Jubilee said. "You could try not..."

And then the woman they were talking to shifted into a similar caricature of Psylocke, at which point the shapeshifter sighed expressively and hung her head.

"You mock us and yet you act as if it is a chore?" Psylocke started to say.

"It's not me," the shapeshifter noted irritably. "It's just there's so man...damn it."

And this time she shifted into first She Hulk across the room and then Benni speaking to her.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jubilee demanded.

"People are fantasizing about all the various women here," Motya said coldly. "And as a result..."

"You shape shift into whatever woman someone is fantasizing about?" Jubilee asked, she paused and thought for a moment.

"My apologies," Psylocke said. "That must be a rather..."

And then the woman returned to a shape like Jubilee's, closer to the real shape and with a quite different hairstyle.

"Huh, that looks pretty good on me," Jubilee said.

"I also freeze things," Motya said irritably, turning to look at the teenager.

Chris and Warbird had a short walk before her photo shoot. She said that he could find her again later. A few hours later Chris looks around for Warbird. He then realizes the best way to find some one is to get a birds eye view. Chris then finds a nice hidden spot where no one is looking. He than puts his hand in the air and transforms into Silver Hawk. It would appear he is trying to work on a shtick to go with the transformation.

Chri I mean Silver Hawk then takes off in to the sky. Once he is up in the air all of the heroes in the deck chairs then notice him gleaming and flying in the sunlight. Silver Hawk then looks down and notices that a bunch of folks are looking up at him and pointing. He waves before he realises that they aren't pointing at him. He notices Warbird just in time to avoid flying into her. After swirving out of the way Silver Hawk then turns to follow Warbird who is now hovering 50' over the pool. Well then hello there silver guy it is good to meet you say's Warbird with an interesting smile. So then what is your name in this form Christopher. A shocked look forms on Silver Hawk's face and he stops flapping his wings. Well knowing the law of gravity only one thing can happen he begins to plumet like a stone. The people below him gasp at the site the sound gets Silver Hawk's attention. He then turns his head toward the ground and opens his wings fully. After a split second the wind catches beneath his wings and he goes soring back up. He fly's up to the hotels roof lands and waits for Warbird.

Warbird lands with a big smile on her face. She looks to be in the middle of a laugh when she notices his angry face. She then quickly stifles her laugh and she say's well I am sorry it was rather obvious from my perspective in the air. Why is it such a secret most people here know each others secret Identity. I bet you know my real name don't you. Well yes I do, say's Silver Hawk, Though there is a difference between the two of us. My name is secret from all but the team I work with. I use Silver Hawk as a way for me to be able to get out in the field and help the rest of the team. I just want to keep this identity a secret I hope you understand Carol. If the Government Agency I represent with them knew they would have a serious problem. She smiles walks over to him and kisses him. This takes Silver Hawk a bit by surprise. Don't worry Silver guy I will keep your secret for you. Thank you Carol and the name is Silver Hawk. Warbird then leans back in and kisses him again. This time Silver Hawk takes her up in his arms and kisses her back strongly. After a long passionate moment he then motions up she shakes her head and the two take off for the sky.

Lenny relaxes about the beach with the five superwomen, each of them now sprawled out in loungers. While the ladies continue to bask in the sun and work on their tans, the Adidas-spangled hero continues to ogle them with what seems like a mix of fanboyish awe and fanatical lechery.

“This is so cool,” Lenny says. “I wonder if Giant Man or Black Panther felt this way when they confronted the Lady Liberators. Hmm, but then again, they probably don’t remember much of that because I read they were brainwashed by The Enchantress for most of the encounter.”

“What do you know of the Lady Liberators?” Valkyrie asks as she adjusts the shoulder straps to her chainmail bikini.

“I know they’re cooler than Charlie’s Angels and hotter than the Spice Girls,” Lenny answers. “I know they’re basically the who’s who of the female superhero world. Heck, I even know you’re actually the founding member, which makes this whole conversation and experience more surreal. I mean, I have a poster of you on my bedroom ceiling.”

"I'm flattered," Valkyrie says to the young hero. "But things aren't always what they seem."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Lenny replies, his face scrunched up in confusion.

Valkyrie merely smiles. Before she can reply, Shanna the She-Devil interjects and the two begin to have a private side conversation.

“I was also part of the Liberators,” Medusa contributes. Even with her relaxed posture and matter-of-fact tone, she exudes a confidence and majesty about her.

“Yup, back when you called yourself Madame Medusa,” Lenny adds with a nod. He transfixes on the Inhuman’s scarlet hair. His eyes sway back and forth, following the coiling and uncoiling of her extremely long tresses. “It’s too bad though, I don’t have a poster of you.”

“Well, you’re in luck,” Hellcat says, arching her back. “Adam Hughes and Marc Silvestri will be doing some portraits of us for pin-ups.” The heroine adds with a purr, “You’ll get to see just how liberated Medusa and the rest of us can really get.”

One night, Benni is following her habit of going to a dance club and dancing the night away. She is moving and grooving with all the other bodies on the dance floor, letting her mind take a break. Sinking her focus into the sensation of moving to the beat of the music, only aware of moving in harmony with the music and bodies around her. She finds dance is one of the best ways to shut off her hyper active brain, to sink completely into the dance, kinda a meditation. It is relaxing to not have her thoughts going 100 miles an hour, figuring out and calculating everything going on around her, to just be in the moment.

Half way through the night, she senses a new presence entering into her awareness, someone entering her sphere of awareness, seeking her attention. Focusing her eyes, she sees a big, muscular man, Hercules. She met him, at the Avengers party. He is named after the greek god, no wait, he is supposed to be the greek god. She dances with him as she wonders which kind of guy he is. She has found in her month of hitting the dance clubs in her new body, she gets hit on by two types of guys, those who wanted to be dominated by her or those who want to prove their manliness by dominating her. She doesn't find either of those types attractive. As they dance, Hercules starts getting inappropriately handsy and trying to monopolize her, Benni sighs as she moves away from him, giving a clear, but subtle rejection to his advances. Hercules arches his eyebrow, laughs and moves off towards two blonde, buxom twins giving him come hither looks. Benni smiles in relief at his easy acceptance of her rejection and nods to Hercules in thanks. He salutes her quickly before turning his attention to the blondes. Benni sinks back into the group meld of bodies dancing around/with her.

MinuteMan seems to spend some time speaking with King T'Challa (the Blank Panther) himself...apparently over some serious matter (at least it looked serious from a distance). The king seemed to listen attentively to MinuteMan's points.

A few days later, a package arrives at the hotel for MinuteMan, sent directly by special courier. MinuteMan gleefully retreats to his hotel room to examine whatever it is...

Several fun-filled days go by, with your hours packed by barbecues, celebrations, water sports, and, when you decide you need a break from all this pool-side relaxation, tours of Wakanda itself and its technological wonders. Occasionally, your heroes' thoughts turn to that of your missing member, Jericho Tesla, wandering about somewhere out in the jungles, and what a party he's been missing...

Jericho, meanwhile, has seemed to find his own mystery to pursue...

Benni is laying out in the sun by the pool, eyes closed, body completely relaxed as she absorbs the sun light, when Moyta comes walking behind the sleepy woman. The small woman is on her way to somewhere, suddenly finding herself changing. She looks down and sees that she is now a small Polynesian/Italian-ish woman of less then 5 feet tall and skinny. The skinny of someone who doesn't eat enough and would be lucky to weight 100 lbs wet. Anyone paying attention will see that Moyta's face structure and hair looks very similar to the tall, sleeping woman's. Moyta gives a roll of her eyes as she continues on her way, not even bothering to try to find out who could be imaging this.

Later in the day as Benni is coming out the pool after a relaxing, 2 hour swim, during which the tall woman never lifted her head out of the water while stroking back and forth the length of the Olympic sized pool. Water cascades down Benni's tall, amazon body as she walks up the the steps out of the pool, finding a stately, platinum blonde standing in front of her watching her come out of the water with complete self-assurance, even as Benni steps up level with the stately woman and towers over her. Benni arches an eyebrow curiously as she looks down at the woman. Taking in the woman's expensive looking silver bikini.

"Bennedetta Ricci?" The self assured platinum blonde asks in a way that is polite but also says she knows exactly who the woman in front of her is as she looks up into the tall woman's eyes, "I am Silver Sablinova," the self assured blonde holds a hand out to Benni.

Benni arches an elegant eyebrow as she shakes hands with the woman, "Nice to meet you Ms Sablinova," and bemusedly accepts a long towel the woman took from a pool attendant. The attendant looked to have been pressed into service by the woman, and had been standing at stiff, formal attention with the towel neatly folded in his arms. He scurries off as soon as the platinum blonde signals him to go.

"Please call me Silver," Silver smiles up at the new heroine, "Would you join me for a drink? I would like to introduce myself more completely and I have what will be a mutually beneficial proposition for you."

Benni arches her eyebrow again, wondering what is up, "Call me Benni and a drink sounds nice," the tall woman follows the platinum blonde to a table. As the two beautiful women sit down, the earlier pool attendant appears at the table and sets down drinks for both women. Benni is mildly surprised when she notices the drink in front of her is her favorite. She sips her drink as she studies the woman curiously, realizing the platinum blonde has done some research into her.

Silver waits for Benni to settle in and that the tall, bronzed woman approves of the drink, before giving Benni a concise background of herself, from being the monarch of Symkaria to owner of Silver Sable International and the goals of her country and company. Benni nods as she listens to Silver's obviously prepared introduction, one that took into account that Benni is a stranger to this world.

Silver smiles engagingly at Benni, "And now my proposition. I am informed that you are the one responsible for the release of the new security software, secure documentation software, and lots of highly useful applications for the open source community." Silver smiles as Benni nods in acknowledgment. "Excellent, I would like to hire you to upgrade and design specialized programs for my company. Would you be amendable?"

Benni pauses in thought as she considers her answer, "Yes. I would be... amendable," Benni smiles and nods to Silver.

Silver smiles and touches her glass to Benni's, "Excellent, we can set up an appointment for later..."

At that moment, Janet van Dyne glides by and smacks Silver lightly on the arm, "Hey no poaching. Benni is with the Avengers!" The heroine called The Wasp teases as she keeps moving, ignoring the scowl Silver throws her way and nodding and winking companionably at Benni.

Silver tosses her long, platinum locks over her shoulder as she turns back to Benni with a smile, "Now then, where were we... yes, we can make an appointment for later. But for now, we can return to our vacation." Silver smiles at Benni as she skillfully turns the conversation towards light, getting to know a person, idle chit chat conversation.

In the evening, the lagoonside is lit by the flickering flames of tiki lamps and the occasional firefly as Wakandan musicians play a danceable rhythm in the background and the smell of fire-pit roasted delicacies still dance in the nostrils of those enjoying the cool night air. Blue Marvel, the artificial duplicate of the 1950's superhero Marvel Boy, approaches Motya and asks her to dance.

Elsewhere, the pleasing smell of barbecue gives way to a bitter acrid stench...like the smell of sulfur...a quick check for the source of the scent results in your eyes falling on a slim built man in his late thirties...maybe forties...short red hair and a white suit, oddly out of place with the more revealing wardrobe choices popularly displayed this evening. The man moves through the crowd, pausing only briefly to speak with MinuteMan before moving on and disappearing into the crowd. With his disappearance, the smell of sulfur fades...

Across the lagoon, apparently choosing to enjoy some quality time together, monarch of Latervia, Victor Von Doom chats with the recently discharged Wilson Fisk, who seems to have healed for the most part from his last encounter with the Punisher.