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thebibliomancer · 2 months

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #311: The WEAKEST POINT

December, 1989

Hydrobase DESTROYED!

Right from Atlantis Attacks to Acts of Vengeance?

Ugh. Marvel really was trying to shake all the quarters out of its audience in 1989. And then the trends of the 90s with special covers and new number one's galore? And then bankruptcy because the big comic companies had poisoned their own waters with that kind of behavior?

I'm getting ahead of myself.

I covered all of Atlantis Attacks because the Avengers and West Coast Avengers chapters wouldn't make any sense in isolation.

I am NOT covering all of Acts of Vengeance.

I counted 50 participating issues before I gave up! That is so much! And it's not really an overarching story so much as... like a vibe? A vague theme?

Villains attacking people they don't usually villain because some masterminds think that would give them a better chance of winning.

A flawed premise because in Marvel, the idea of a strict rogues gallery is a lot more loose. Since a huge chunk of the superhero populace operates out of New York, everybody just kinda shares.

I mean, sure, some of the match-ups that took place in Acts of Vengeance were unlikely. But they were match-ups that could have eventually happened just because Superman Doesn't Stay Out of Gotham in Marvel, if you catch my point.

As the bridge between all of Marvel, the Avengers are pretty likely to eventually fight anyone.

Anyway, I'll only be covering the Avengers and Avengers West Coast. If I try to cover everything I will die.

Also, I covered Atlantis Attacks first because Hydrobase/Avengers Island shows up in it and then (spoilers) it gets destroyed here in issue #311.

Remember how I kept saying enjoy the island while you could?

Yeah...

;_;

Look at Avengers Island in that opening splash! The runway and roads form a sorta A shape. That's just cool!

That's the coolest the island has ever looked because other aerial shots have been pretty barren or have only showed the Avengers Mansion.

Sadly, Avengers Island never really got a chance to shine. Introduced by Stern before he got unceremoniously booted by editorial meddling and barely utilized by Walter Simonson since his run barely got off the ground. John Byrne seemed like he was going to do something with it when his run started because he had the island moved closer to New York and renamed from Hydrobase to Avengers Island.

But it got hoisted out of the sea (somehow without being majorly damaged) in the Lava Men trilogy and then wasn't really important in the Gilgamesh Is Dead trilogy and now here we are where (spoilers) its going to be destroyed.

I'm jumping the gun a little bit to eulogize but it's been a recent them of the Avengers books that interesting ideas just don't get a chance before they're taken out back and shot.

Captain Monica as the chairwoman of the Avengers. The Worst Roster. Avengers Island.

There's always someone smacking the book and yelling at it to stop trying new things.

Anyway. My unending sadness aside, this is a Quasar focus issue.

I'm not really sure when he became an Avenger because he just started showing up as one when Cap announced the Every Avenger Is An Avenger roster. So either sometime in another book or he was just nearby when Cap was gathering people and got included to pad out the numbers.

(Apparently, there was a back-up story in Avengers Annual #18 set between Avengers #303 and 304 showing that Quasar got invited to join after the Super-Nova incident. Captain America and Hawkeye fight over him. It sounds like a fun story. But I read Avengers Annual #18 for Atlantis Attacks and sometimes back-up stories are omitted on Unlimited and whoops this is one of those times.)

Quasar shows up at Avengers Island after participating in another Acts of Vengeance over in his own book.

Speaking of ideas that never really got a chance to shine: the Avengers Support Crew finally show up!

With the Avengers getting a whole island as their headquarters, some noise was made in Simonson's run that they'd be hiring more of a support crew than just Jarvis. Mostly characters from Captain America's orbit.

But with Simonson leaving the book, not a lot was done with that idea. Until now! The very issue that the new, bigger headquarters they were hired to help with is going to sink!

Hahahaha ;_;

Anyway. We have Robert Frank Jr - Nuklo from Giant-Size Avengers #1. Son of the Whizzer and Miss America (not the modern one). He was cured of being excessively radioactive and got hired to be a groundskeeper on Avengers Island.

We have Peggy Carter. I don't need to explain Peggy Carter. She fought in World War II and was Cap's sometimes girlfriend. Then he started dating her niece instead. Which is a very normal thing to do, probably. She was hired to be in charge of telecommunications.

There's Fabian Stankiewicz. Good ol' Mechano-Marauder! That dingus that kept building robot suits to attack the Avengers and he was treated as a bit of a joke villain? Even getting beaten once by David Letterman. Yes, David Letterman. Cap saw potential in him anyway and hired him to maintain and improve the Avengers' technology.

There's M'Daka, a Wakandan pilot that delivered Captain America a new shield once. And apparently this made such an impression on Cap that he poached the guy from T'Challa to work for the Avengers as a mechanic.

Michael O'Brien, the former head of security for Project PEGASUS and later the Vault and was hired as head of security for the Avengers. Given the stuff that happened at Project PEGASUS and the Vault, I don't know if he's great at his job. But also the Avengers aren't great at security sometimes so its a lateral move, at worst.

Jarvis, of course, is on the payroll as butler and delightful human being. I assume he gets paid extra for being so delightful.

Keith Kincaid, husband to Jane Foster, was hired as a doctor so the Avengers wouldn't have to rely on mysterious Doctor Donald Blake just showing up whenever there's a medical emergency. And presumably to make Thor feel bad whenever he has to look at the dude that married his girlfriend because his dad made them break up.

There's also Donna Maria Puentes, a South American revolutionary that impressed Captain America with how good she was at shooting Nazi androids. So he hired her as an administrator.

Take this with a grain of salt because I'm also the person looking forward to the Avengers' 90s team jackets but I think the blue jumpsuits and red turtlenecks are a very spiffy look for the support crew.

I honestly like the idea that as a bigger, more officially recognized super-team, the Avengers would have a support staff. And since security is very hard for superheroes, it's mostly people that Captain America already knew.

This issue really goes into some depth about how Avengers Island normally operates. There's guys doing landscaping. There's guys in a security room spotting Quasar arriving and making sure the system confirms his arrival via retina pattern and fingerprints. Then they watch him as he makes his way through the Mansion towards the communication room.

When he gets there Peggy Carter tells him that she's getting reports from all over that superheroes are getting attacked by people they've never faced before.

She won't call it a plot without more evidence but she definitely is thinking the word plot very loudly.

Elsewhere, a mysterious (Loki) man in a suit sits on a throne flanked by two fancy braziers (it's Loki) spying on the Avengers' communication room with magical scrying (Acts of Vengeance plays this up as a mystery but it's Loki, you know it, I know it, and he knows it).

Definitely Loki meets with a mysterious green cloaked figure (Dr Doom, obviously) and ... Shredder from Ninja Turtles? Or maybe the Mandarin? And there's a lot of Everything Transpires How We Planned and yeah we're definitely all going to try to betray each other between them.

Definitely Doom says that he's set in motion his part of the plan.

Anyway, Peggy Carter just finishes telling Quasar that she hasn't been able to contact any of the other Avengers when Avengers Island starts to shake.

Peggy checks on the security monitor and OH NO

Dozens of robots are smashing holes in the flotation cushions that keep the not-an-island Avengers Island floating!

Since it's just Quasar and the support crew (despite the lying cover featuring Thor, Namor, She-Hulk, Sersi, and Captain America! That's a lot of lying, even by cover standards!), it's an all hands situation.

The non-superpowered people all grab laser rifles from gun lockers, Fabian gets into his latest battlesuit, and Quasar flies out and starts blasting robots.

I'm of two minds here, re: the Acts of Vengeance conceit.

The Avengers have fought Doom before. He's not showing up personally, just sending some robots. But I think it counts. So Doom attacking the Avengers with robots isn't a match-up they haven't had before.

But most of the actual Avengers are off busy somewhere. I don't think Quasar has fought Doom. So Quasar and the Avengers Support Crew versus some Doom robots that aren't Doombots is a novel match-up.

The support crew and Quasar blast the bots to pieces but the disembodied limbs keep attacking.

Rocket punch!

That ol' Doom sure knows how to build a robot.

Even as the support crew and Quasar blast bots, more continue to punch holes in Avengers Island.

MEANWHILE, SPACE.

Which is a thing you have to say when reading comics.

Starfox sneaks aboard Nebula's spaceship to find out what his supposed grandniece is up to. He pleasure zonks a guard unconscious and steals his environment suit so he can be INCOGNITO.

He finds his way to the bridge where Nebula and her Rigellian minion Gunthar are looking over the tablets they recovered from Omicron Seti, which hold in their ancient carvings A SECRET THAT DETERMINES THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE. A secret that will make her scarier than Thanos.

But she'll need Paul Harker, that random old man scientist the book has kept cutting to. The one who blew up his own basement with his new invention? That guy.

The one subplot the Avengers book has been dutifully building up.

Back at Avengers Island, the support crew is getting overwhelmed. Even Stankiewicz in his battlesuit.

BUT DAMMIT THEY WON'T GIVE UP. THEY HAVE TO PROVE THEY'RE WORTHY OF CAP'S TRUST!

Wow. Cap picked well. These guys really want to live up to what he saw in them.

Quasar sees some of the robots messing with the big Quinjet fuel storage tanks but he's able to chase them away pretty easily. Too pretty easily...

But he literally doesn't have time to worry about that.

He sends Peggy Carter to go back to the communications room and try again to contact the Avengers. Despite Peggy telling him the emergency signal has been going since the attack started.

Peggy worries that the Avengers are already dead, since she wasn't able to raise them before the attack. But she's not going to think about it!

The robots retreat but the island is already sinking.

Quasar doesn't know whether this is a trick or not but he decides to use the breathing room anyway.

He orders an evacuation and orders the support crew to try to prepare as many of the Quinjets for launch as they can reasonably save.

Then he dives into the water to check to see if Hydrobase Avengers Island can be saved.

And. No.

No, it can't.

Every one of the flotation cylinders has been ruptured and has taken on water. There's just not enough time to patch all the holes before the island completely sinks.

Quasar does create a giant brace with his green lantern-ish powers to stabilize the island.

I wonder why he doesn't make a jack to lift it completely out of the water. He's thrown an entire Terminus into space once.

For that matter, weren't giant spikes put into Avengers Island to keep it in one place? Where are those and wouldn't they help keep the island afloat?

I guess that got lost in the shuffle.

O'Brien rushes into the mansion (where the flooding is ruining all of Tony Stark's art and rugs) to look for Peggy Carter. Who you may recall was sent back into the Mansion to try to contact the Avengers despite an automated distress call going out.

Way to manufacture drama, Quasar.

Peggy insists at staying at her post, continuing to try to contact help. Like she thinks she's on the Titanic or something. But O'Brien lies and says that the Avengers are here so c'mon lets hustle.

Then the secret bomb that the robots secretly left at the fuel tanks unsecretly explodes.

Knocking Quasar for a loop and rendering his plan to stabilize the island moot.

There's just no chance of saving the island now.

But Quasar does pop out of the water to save O'Brien and Peggy and carry them to the Quinjet Jarvis is piloting.

Hi, Jarvis!

Jarvis: "I only wish we had never removed our headquarters from New York City. Then, perhaps... nothing like this... could ever have happened. The proud history of Avengers Mansion would not have ended like this..."

Jarvis, I love ya, but shut up. You sound like you're speaking from the editorial, not from the heart.

Don't forget that y'all moved to the island in the first place because the Masters of Evil basically gutted Avengers Mansion. You might as well say 'I only wish we'd moved out to sea earlier so nothing like this could ever have happened' about that.

And like I said at the beginning of this post, Avengers Island was not a mistake. It was a new direction for the book that never got a chance to shine before someone lost their nerve and forced a change back to status quo.

Because, yes, before too long, Avengers Mansion will be rebuilt back in Manhattan.

And I like Avengers Mansion. Honestly, it's my favorite HQ for the team. But I wish this era wasn't characterized with timid backtracking.

Aside from that, this is a cool issue. Seeing the civilian support staff and Quasar have to defend the base while the Avengers are absent is pretty interesting.

I disagree with the sinking of Avengers Island but it does give Acts of Vengeance some impact. Although it can't compare to the last big HQ wrecking, Avengers Under Siege.

Anyway. Quasar says he gets the feeling this whole thing isn't over. And he's right. There's two more Acts of Vengeance in Avengers and three in Avengers West Coast.

Four in Avengers Spotlight but I don't read that. It says Avengers on it but it's like Two-in-One or Marvel Team-Up but with Hawkeye.

Follow @essential-avengers. Like and reblog. Shout to the wind. Howl like nobody's watching.

#essential avengers #avengers #Acts of Vengeance #Doctor Doom's robots #Quasar #Avengers Support Crew #Robert Frank Jr #Peggy Carter #Fabian Stankiewicz #Mechano Marauder #M'Daka #Michael O'Brien #Edwin Jarvis #Keith Kincaid #Donna Maria Puentes #Starfox #Nebula #cool issue i just disagree with the plot direction

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thepastisalreadywritten · 1 year

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By Brian Handwerk, 11 May 2023

Mother’s Day is one of the year’s biggest greeting card occasions, but it definitely didn’t start out as a Hallmark holiday.

The Mother’s Day we celebrate on the second Sunday in May exists largely due to the incessant efforts — some might say maniacal single-mindedness — of a woman named Anna Jarvis.

But Jarvis wasn’t the first American to promote the idea.

Early attempts to get the holiday going focused on bigger social issues, such as promoting peace and improving schools.

But the version of the day that finally did catch on became its founder’s worst nightmare.

Early Mother’s Day celebrations

Mother’s Day was initially launched by antiwar activists in 1872.

Julia Ward Howe, better remembered for writing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," advocated a Mothers’ Peace Day on which pacifist women would gather in churches, social halls, and homes to listen to sermons or essays, sing, and pray for peace.

American cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago held annual Mother’s Day services, centered on pacifism, every June 2 until about 1913.

But these faded away, as did the mothers’ pleas for peace when the world entered World War I.

Another early Mother's Day effort was led by teacher and principal Mary Towles Sasseen, of Henderson, Kentucky.

Her idea, launched in 1887, focused on schools:

Sasseen wrote a guide, Mother’s Day Celebrations, with the hope that school systems around the country would observe Mother’s Day receptions to strengthen ties between students, parents, and teachers.

But by the time she died in 1924, Sasseen’s Mother’s Day never made it far beyond Kentucky.

Who really founded Mother’s Day?

In February 1904, Frank Hering, a University of Notre Dame faculty member, football coach, and national president of the Fraternal Order of Eagles delivered a speech entitled “Our Mothers and Their Importance in Our Lives.”

It was the first public call to set aside a national day to honor mothers.

Although that organization still bills Hering and itself as the “true founders of Mother's Day,” his role in proposing the holiday was soon eclipsed by the tireless efforts of Jarvis to publicize and promote the holiday — and herself as the founder.

Jarvis’s labors, which made Mother’s Day a reality, began with a wish to honor her own mother — who had attended Julia Ward Howe’s gatherings and prayed, quite literally, for such a day to exist.

In 1908, when Jarvis organized the first official Mother’s Day celebrations in Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, she chose the second Sunday in May because it honored the anniversary of her mother’s death.

As Jarvis’s campaigning rapidly expanded Mother’s Day observations across the country, she rejected the idea that Hering’s earlier suggestion had anything to do with it.

An undated 1920s statement entitled “Kidnapping Mother’s Day: Will You Be an Accomplice?” explained her attitude towards Hering:

“Do me the justice of refraining from furthering the selfish interests of this claimant, who is making a desperate effort to snatch from me the rightful title of originator and founder of Mother’s Day, established by me after decades of untold labor, time and expense.”

Jarvis, who never had children, acted partly out of ego, says Katharine Antolini, an historian at West Virginia Wesleyan College and author of Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother's Day.

“Everything she signed was Anna Jarvis, Founder of Mother's Day. It was who she was."

How Mother’s Day became a national holiday

Jarvis had a point; she’s clearly the primary person responsible for launching the holiday as a national celebration.

Founding Mother’s Day and aggressively protecting her ownership of the holiday became her life’s work.

In her mission to win the holiday national recognition, Jarvis petitioned the press, politicians, churches, organizations, and individuals of influence including, notably, the wealthy Philadelphia department store magnate John Wanamaker.

Wanamaker embraced Jarvis’s idea and promoted a 10 May 1908 gathering at his department store, which Jarvis herself addressed.

The Philadelphia event drew a reported 15,000 people and each one received a free carnation — at least while they lasted. Mother’s Day was off and running.

Under relentless lobbying from Jarvis, state after state began to observe Mother’s Day.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson finally signed a bill designating the second Sunday in May as a legal holiday, Mother’s Day.

It was dedicated “to the best mother in the world, your mother.” The idea of honoring mothers was appealing.

General John “Black Jack” Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, highlighted the value of the holiday in a general order he issued on 8 May 1918 asking officers and soldiers to write letters home on Mother’s Day.

He wrote: “This is a little thing for each one to do, but these letters will carry back our courage and affection to the patriotic women whose love and prayers inspire us and cheer us on to victory."

In 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt got into the act.

The avid stamp collector sketched a design for a Commemorative Mother’s Day Stamp based on the famous “Whistler’s Mother” portrait.

Unfortunately for FDR, Anna Jarvis didn’t approve.

She found the design ugly and made clear her intention that the words “Mother’s Day” not adorn the stamp — they never did.

Mother’s Day and commercialization

Business owners like John Wanamaker and Philadelphia's florists likely saw Mother’s Day’s commercial potential from that very first Sunday in 1908.

But Jarvis had many strong opinions about how the holiday should and should not be celebrated.

Foremost among them was her hatred of profiteering, even by charitable institutions.

Just a few years after that first Philadelphia Mother’s Day, one story goes, Jarvis ordered a “Mother’s Day Salad” at Wanamaker’s Tea Room — and dumped it on the floor.

Jarvis meant the holiday to be one of quiet reflection and personal relations between mothers and children.

“To have Mother’s Day the burdensome, wasteful, expensive gift day that Christmas and other special days have become is not our pleasure," she wrote in the 1920s.

“If the American people are not willing to protect Mother’s Day from the hordes of money schemers that would overwhelm it with their schemes, then we shall cease having a Mother’s Day—and we know how.”

If Jarvis really did have some plan to stop people from profiting off of Mother’s Day, that plan amounted to exactly nothing.

In 1948, Jarvis died in a Pennsylvania sanitarium, aged 84, penniless after spending her fortune fighting to maintain control over Mother’s Day.

Today, Mother’s Day isn’t just commercialized, it’s a retail juggernaut.

In fact, only Back-to-School and winter holidays inspire Americans to spend more money per person than Mother’s Day, according to the National Retail Federation.

The haul is over 30 billion dollars in all.

Hallmark profits handsomely from that spending; it’s the third biggest card-giving day of the year.

And, to the delight of florists, about three out of four people faithfully send mom flowers.

More than half of all celebrators also plan special outings for their mothers, gifting tickets to concerts and sporting events—or a day at the spa.

And Mother’s Day is also the busiest day of the year for restaurants, according to annual research surveys from the National Restaurant Association.

More than one in four people go out for a meal with mom each year, and many more at least order takeout so that no one has to spend the special day in the kitchen.

If the holiday has become a runaway moneymaker, Jarvis would have loathed, at least gathering around a table for those Mother’s Day meals offers children a chance to personally honor their moms in the way she always intended.

#Mother's Day #Anna Jarvis #Julia Ward Howe #Mary Towles Sasseen #Frank Hering #President Woodrow Wilson #President Franklin Delano Roosevelt #Hallmark

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chasingmidnights · 1 year

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Cradle of Life: Part Two

Title: Alexander Pierce

Summary: After your father’s death, you’re sent a box of his belongings. Come to find out, one of your father’s enemies is after said belongings so you reach out to a few of your friends for help.

Warnings: fencing sparring with weapons, foil & Sais; gun violence/bullets; character injury/death; mentions of blood/Ebola; gunshot wound; home intrusion; and I believe that’s everything. If I miss anything, I do apologize but you are responsible for what you read.

Wordcount: 1,478

Two days later and you were still trying to break the code on the orb. To say you were getting frustrated would be an understatement and it showed while you were sparring with Edwin. The two of you were fencing and you were being a bit too aggressive for a simple sparring match. You hated to do it but eventually you caved and called Rick, who almost immediately agreed to help. Just as you were lunging forward, Jake entered the room.

“Anything?” You bark as you remove your helmet and turn your head towards Jake.

Edwin tries to advance but you manage to block his move just in time, you grunt as you do. Jake sighs as he shakes his head, not wanting to be on the receiving end of your aggression.

“I know it’s sound that this coin represents but so far everything that I’ve tried hasn’t worked. And there could be dozens, hell, thousands of combinations of sounds that might do the trick. It’ll take a while before I have anything.” Jake explains, and he waits for your reply as you spar against Edwin.

He watches as the swords tangle together and Edwin manages to knock yours out of your hand and it flies across the floor. A smile forms on Edwin’s face, one of being victorious causing you to narrow your gaze at him. You then do a couple of back flips and collect the Sais displayed on the wall. You twirl them a couple of times as you walk back towards Edwin, the smile from his face instantly fading. You turn your head towards Jake as you get into a defense position.

“Then we’ll try thousands.”

Jake lets out a huff of air. “Alright, I’ll get back at it then.”

Jake walks away and heads back towards the office, he could tell he was in for a long night. You and Edwin continued to spar, each countering the other’s move. You eventually knock Edwin’s sword out of his hands and he concedes. The rest of the day was pretty calm with the slightest bit of tension clinging in the air. You and Jake tried different sound combinations but nothing seemed to be working, which only frustrated you and Jake more. It wasn’t until Edwin was bringing you two some coffee at the late hour, when you finally made some headway on the orb. You were taking a huge drink of your fresh coffee when the orb finally responded to the sound causing Jake to perk up.

“Woah, what was that?” Jake inquired as he sat up, adjusting his glasses. “Do that again.”

Before you could do anything though, a bullet broke through the glass window and instantly shattered it. The bullet flies past you and into the decorative bust on the table across your desk. Several more bullets follow suit as the three of you begin to take cover. You roll under the desk, grabbing the two hidden guns that are concealed beneath it.

“Jake!” You call out to him before looking over at him. You smile to see that he’s already armed.

The two of you nod at each other as you prepare yourself for a fight. The bullets suddenly stop and you go to peek over the desk when men in tactical gear smash through the window.

“Get back!” You yell and you look over to see if Edwin is alright, only to find him gone.

The men begin to force you and Jake out of the room as they begin firing again. Jake pulls you close to him as you scramble out of the office. You already know what they’re after, you don’t even have to think twice about it. The two men keep pushing you and Jake further away from the office as a third man comes through the now broken window. He walks up to the orb and just as he begins to pick it up to put it into a bag, he hears the cock of a shotgun.

“I don’t think so.” Edwin says sternly and with a straight face. The intruder doesn’t respond so Edwin shoots off a round past the man, a warning shot. “The next one won’t miss. Leave now.” Edwin orders, cocking the shotgun again.

Edwin then screams out in pain as a bullet pierce his right shoulder causing him to fall to his hands and knees. The intruder takes this moment to snag the orb and run off with it. Just as you and Jake were returning to the office, Edwin was getting back up on his feet as he held his shoulder.

“Edwin!” You rush over to him to help him and so does Jake.

He shakes his head, refusing your help. “I’m fine. I’m sorry Y/n but they got the orb, I tried to stop them.”

You were about to say something when the sound of someone stepping on glass catches the attention of all of you. Still on high alert, you and Jake aim your guns in that direction only to lower them again.

“What the hell happened here?” Rick inquired as he examined all of the damage.

You can’t help but roll your eyes at him. “Someone just stole my bloody orb.” You say it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Meanwhile, Alexander Pierce along with six other men and women are in a conference room in one of Pierce’s many high rises located in Madripoor. As Pierce is talking about his latest discoveries, one of the men starts coughing and spitting up blood. Looks of concern form on the other’s faces whereas Pierce stops his pacing as he glances down to his watch. When he looks back up, he nods to a waiting agent and they begin to pass out a small pill. Pierce watches as everyone accepts the pill before adjusting his tie. He then starts to walk towards the coughing man, speaking as he does.

“There’s an expression: “It’s not nice to fool mother nature.” Yet, that’s precisely what I’ve been doing for some time now. While the weapons I make serve their purpose, there have always been limitations. Stable diseases aren’t lethal. Deadly ones burn out too quickly. Mother nature can only be fooled so much. Deploy my weapons, and your enemies, however great, will collapse from within,” Pierce pauses for a brief moment as the man starts to cough harder. “Rather like Mr. Malick’s collapsing right now.” Pierce was about to continue when Ms. Hawley interrupts him.

“What the hell is going on?!” Mrs. Hawley speaks up, a slight waver in her voice.

Pierce turns to her. “Malick told MI6 about this meeting. That’s why the change in location. He was going to turn me over to them in return for his own safety.” Pierce then turns his attention to Malick, who was still coughing uncontrollably. Pierce grabs him by the hair and forces him to look at him. “A smart man would’ve known I was on to him. He would’ve never come to the meeting. But I knew you would. You actually thought you could fool me. That, gentlemen, is the sound of a traitor dying,” Pierce lets go of Mr. Malick as he takes his final breath. A long, pregnant pause fills the room as the group waits for what Pierce has to say next. “That was an accelerated form of Ebola, deadliest disease known to man. Highly contagious. However, as with all known diseases, there exist stockpiles of antiserum in the West.” Pierce was over by the agent who had handed out the pills and took the last one. He glances down at his watch and waits a few more seconds before taking the pill and placing it in his mouth, swallowing it down with nothing but his saliva. He waits a moment as he watches his colleagues do the same thing except swallowing theirs down with water. “There is no antiserum for what I’m offering you. No treatment. No vaccine. No cure. The world’s never seen anything like what I’ve uncovered.”

“Uncovered?” Rockwell inquires.

Pierce turns to him. “Yes, see, I’ve branched out. Archaeology. 5-3-4-9-2-0-8, that is the account at the Mashreq Bank. One hundred million each, if you please.”

The group looks around at each other, each wondering what exactly could be worth that type of money. Pierce then spots Brock Rumlow out of the corner of his eye, waiting for him. Pierce then concludes the meeting, telling them the short version of Pandora’s box before walking out of the conference room. Rumlow and Pierce then begin to walk down the hallway.

“Did you retrieve it?” Pierce inquires, glancing over at Brock.

“Yes sir. It’s down in the lab as we speak.” Brock replies.

Pierce nods his head in approval. “Good. Because I just told a room full of men about Pandora. We can’t have any setbacks.”

#cradle of life au #marvel fanfiction #marvel characters #tomb raider character!reader #edwin jarvis #alexander pierce #brock rumlow #rick o'connell #jake jensen the losers #robert redford #james darcy #frank grillo #brendan fraser #chris evans characters #madripoor marvel #madripoor #marvel au

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forensicated · 2 months

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Smiffina Episodes: Trail Of Blood

Smithy is now Acting Inspector whilst Gina is on holiday. It's a hell of a day for him to start:

Supermodel Cindy Statham's Funeral,

The OTT press interest,

Her suspected murderer attempting suicide,

Her suspected murderer doing a runner within the hospital,

Her suspected murderer assaulting Beth, knocking her out and tying her up,

Her suspected murderer escaping the hospital via an ambulance and then going on to escape the ambulance and disappear somewhere in Canley,

A stroppy journalist 'The Aptly Named Mr Cocks' insisting that Beth (4ft nothing Beth of all people!) pushed him over and then leaking to the public that Larry had escaped.

And just a little thing of an armed robbery coming up in the middle of all that.

"Why today?!" Smithy stresses, given he doesn't have enough coffee for all of this, never mind enough officers!

Thankfully Beth is ok and she attends the armed robbery. The suspects have already disappeared and there's no sign of their getaway vehicle. Sally speaks to a man who is more than a little excited at helping the police and appears to be a bit of a True Crime buff. He gives them proper descriptions of the clothing down to the colour laces in ones shoes and he also has a recording on his phone.

Cindy's suspected murderer, Larry Franks escapes into the back of an ambulance. They send the paramedics a silent text via their terminal to tell them to continue to their destination and that they'll have police there to assist them. Dan and others arrive to box the ambulance in but Larry must have jumped out enroute.

Bit of a stressful start to the cover...

Jo goes to visit Larry's chatty cell mate, Merv. He's a little too helpful, even telling her that Larry had discussed his crime and that he'd watched Cindy die and that he'd kick off and get vicious if anyone mentioned Cindy. He says 'unfinished business' caused Larry to escape. He claims he'll probably be at the address of someone who was 'like a sister to him'. Unfortunately all that happens is Stuart finds Merv's wife and her new boyfriend getting 'busy' when he goes to check. Merv apologises and says he suspected them of having an affair even before he was inside and wanted to check. Jo makes to leave and he then tells her that Larry wasn't as bad as he'd initially made out and that he couldn't take people thinking that he'd killed Cindy, especially as they were calling him 'Necro' inside. He insisted he'd never ever hurt her because he loved her.

Nikki gets CCTV from surrounding buildings whilst Beth listens to the recording. She realises that 1 robber calls the manager by his first name (not on the name badge) . Nikki asks for a list of employees and ex-employees to see if any names are known. The manager supplies the CCTV and list. Leela notices a potential DNA trace left when one touches his face and then the wall and gets forensics to check it. Beth finds a likely suspect in the list of former employees. Smithy saw the son of one known associate of the main suspect at St Hugh's. He tells Beth and Emma to work with C019 to arrest the suspect. They also find Baker Jones, the son at the house.Baker is gentle and not very bright but also definitely his father's son...!

The journalist from earlier arrives at Sun Hill to make a complaint against Beth. Smithy rolls his eyes and doesn't even entertain it given he's the one who leaked to his paper that Larry was out - that he'd heard only through being in St Hughs. He just smirks. "I think you owe PC Green a thank you." he says before walking out.

Baker is clearly nervous and tells Smithy he'll come back later. Smithy's having none of it and orders his pockets turned out. Baker has 2 tickets for Miami for him and his mum in his pocket leaving in 3 hours. The sweat on the wall matches his DNA. Beth plays him the recording and then reasons his dad got a lesser sentence for helping so if he co-operates he'll get help. Baker is almost in tears, saying he can't go inside - he has to look after his mum.

Jo locates Larry Franks at Cindy's grave and approaches him slowly, he sobs that he doesn't want to go back to prison, he doesn't belong there. She tries to get him to open up to her and sits at the grave beside him. She explains she has to arrest him but it's just her and he's not to worry because she'll look after him. He begs her to realise that he'd never kill Cindy.

Smithy is called to the front desk where Baker's mum is - he finds out that she has cancer and Baker is her carer. She wants to see him to find out if they're going away on their final holiday. Smithy sighs. "I shouldn't do this... five minutes - literally." he says, showing her through. Baker cries in his mums arms and apologises, it becoming clear he did it to finance her seeing her sister in America. Baker cries and tells her to still goes and Smithy starts to gently explain she can't if the plane tickets were bought with the proceeds but she cuts him off and gently tells Baker she won't be alone and that he has to co-operate and tell the truth. Baker admits the other suspect had a gun that he didn't know about and received his black eye from trying to get out of it. Smithy tells them that he'll speak to the CPS and make sure they know he co-operated and showed remorse. Whilst he'll still get a custodial sentence - hopefully it will be shorter.

Smithy then goes on to let Beth know that "the aptly named journalist, Mr Cocks, is not going to make a complaint." Beth is so overwhelmed she doesn't know what to do, going in for a hug before realising who it is and shaking his hand instead - making all laugh.

Larry tells Jo that he panicked and needed to get away so he could think. He insists he didn't do it, he did witness her die and admits he was there but he didn't actually kill her. He gets taken away back to the prison but it's clear that Jo doesn't believe that he did it.

Neil calls in on Smithy at the end of the day. Smithy's swamped with the paperwork he never got chance to complete during the day and "Gina has kindly copied all of her emails to my inbox." He is settling in for unpaid overtime to get it done. Neil sympathises, smiling when Smithy remembers what Gina left him in the bottom drawer, the two men sharing a drink together as Smithy thanks Neil for his help.

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bobbie-robron · 5 months

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Has it ever occurred to you, you’re better off knowing who the real villains are? It’s the ones who haven’t been found out yet you need to worry about. (Part 2 of 2)

These scenes focus on a village meeting, headed by Viv, about Frank Bernard and how to deal with him (basically they want him out and away from their village). Edna walks off as there is no reasoning with the lot of them. Ashley is appalled by the mob mentality (a rock being thrown through Pearl’s home) and he’s speaking out not as their professional vicar but as an ordinary decent man, for what’s it worth.

11-Oct-2004

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comicbooksaregood · 9 months

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New Avengers

Volume: 1

Issue: 4

Breakout!: Part 4

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Penciler: David Finch

Inker: Danny Miki

Colourist: Frank D'Armata

Cover: David Finch

Marvel

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shewhoworshipscarlin · 3 months

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Evelyn Preer

Evelyn Preer (née Jarvis; July 26, 1896 – November 17, 1932), was an African American pioneering screen and stage actress, and jazz and blues singer in Hollywood during the late-1910s through the early 1930s. Preer was known within the Black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."

She was the first Black actress to earn celebrity and popularity. She appeared in ground-breaking films and stage productions, such as the first play by a black playwright to be produced on Broadway, and the first New York–style production with a black cast in California in 1928, in a revival of a play adapted from Somerset Maugham's Rain.

Evelyn Jarvis was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 26, 1896. After her father, Frank, died prematurely, she moved with her mother, Blanche, and her three other siblings to Chicago, Illinois. She completed grammar school and high school in Chicago. Her early experiences in vaudeville and "street preaching" with her mother are what jump-started her acting career. Preer married Frank Preer on January 16, 1915, in Chicago.

At the age of 23, Preer's first film role was in Oscar Micheaux's 1919 debut film The Homesteader, in which she played Orlean. Preer was promoted by Micheaux as his leading actress with a steady tour of personal appearances and a publicity campaign, she was one of the first African American women to become a star to the black community. She also acted in Micheaux's Within Our Gates (1920), in which she plays Sylvia Landry, a teacher who needs to raise money to save her school. Still from the 1919 Oscar Micheaux film Within Our Gates.

In 1920, Preer joined The Lafayette Players a theatrical stock company in Chicago that was founded in 1915 by Anita Bush, a pioneering stage and film actress known as “The Little Mother of Black Drama". Bush and her troupe toured the US to bring legitimate theatre to black audiences at a time when theaters were racially segregated by law in the South, and often by custom in the North and the interest of vaudeville was fading. The Lafayette Players brought drama to black audiences, which caused it to flourish until its end during the Great Depression.

She continued her career by starring in 19 films. Micheaux developed many of his subsequent films to showcase Preer's versatility. These included The Brute (1920), The Gunsaulus Mystery (1921), Deceit (1923), Birthright (1924), The Devil’s Disciple (1926), The Conjure Woman (1926) and The Spider's Web (1926). Preer had her talkie debut in the race musical Georgia Rose (1930). In 1931, she performed with Sylvia Sidney in the film Ladies of the Big House. Her final film performance was as Lola, a prostitute, in Josef von Sternberg's 1932 film Blonde Venus, with Cary Grant and Marlene Dietrich. Preer was lauded by both the black and white press for her ability to continually succeed in ever more challenging roles, "...her roles ran the gamut from villain to heroine an attribute that many black actresses who worked in Hollywood cinema history did not have the privilege or luxury to enjoy." Only her film by Micheaux and three shorts survive. She was known for refusing to play roles that she believed demeaned African Americans.

By the mid-1920s, Preer began garnering attention from the white press, and she began to appear in crossover films and stage parts. In 1923, she acted in the Ethiopian Art Theatre's production of The Chip Woman's Fortune by Willis Richardson. This was the first dramatic play by an African-American playwright to be produced on Broadway, and it lasted two weeks. She met her second husband, Edward Thompson, when they were both acting with the Lafayette Players in Chicago. They married February 4, 1924, in Williamson County, Tennessee. In 1926, Preer appeared on Broadway in David Belasco’s production of Lulu Belle. Preer supported and understudied Lenore Ulric in the leading role of Edward Sheldon's drama of a Harlem prostitute. She garnered acclaim in Sadie Thompson in a West Coast revival of Somerset Maugham’s play about a fallen woman.

She rejoined the Lafayette Players for that production in their first show in Los Angeles at the Lincoln Center. Under the leadership of Robert Levy, Preer and her colleagues performed in the first New York–style play featuring black players to be produced in California. That year, she also appeared in Rain, a play adapted from Maugham's short story by the same name.

Preer also sang in cabaret and musical theater where she was occasionally backed by such diverse musicians as Duke Ellington and Red Nichols early in their careers. Preer was regarded by many as the greatest actress of her time.

Developing post-childbirth complications, Preer died of pneumonia on November 17, 1932, in Los Angeles at the age of 36. Her husband continued as a popular leading man and "heavy" in numerous race films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and died in 1960.

Their daughter Edeve Thompson converted to Catholicism as a teenager. She later entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana, where she became known as Sister Francesca Thompson, O.S.F., and became an academic, teaching at both Marian University in Indiana and Fordham University in New York City.

Still from the 1919 Oscar Micheaux film Within Our Gates.

#historical #black history #actress #evelyn preer

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lonesome-dreamsss · 7 months

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steve plays tony sappy love songs from the 40s!!! he also ventures into the 50s and 60s, hits ALL the old time-y songs. he's so in love and this is how he shows it best (along with his art of course, he has an entire sketchbook dedicated to tony).

the first time he does it, they're in the kitchen, steve's making them breakfast and tony is at the table with a coffee. steve's phone is set up, playing music, soft, quiet songs, mostly instrumentals. once he has the pancakes on a plate, he changes it to a billie holiday song. it's something so, so sappy and tony grins and is like "he's playing me love songs now?" and steve grins back and says "maybe. are you complaining?" the tips of tony's ears are pink but no, he isn't complaining, not one bit. when the song ends, tony kisses him and says "i love you too, y'know." and steve does know.

the next time, they're in tony's work shop, tony's playing around with some new suit ideas for the team and steve's drawing (tony as he is then, stained with oil smears, hair askew, absolutely beaming). steve smiles softly and requests that jarvis play this dean martin song. tony turns to look at him, that same grin he had the first time spreading across his face, "you're ridiculous." steve gives him his best who me? face and tony throws his head back and laughs.

tony takes them out of nyc, some place in upstate new york, so they could stargaze. he knows nothing about the stars, and steve is just as clueless, but it's less about that and more about just being with one another, experiencing the world's beauty together. though steve spends most of the time looking at tony because well, he's more beautiful then any star or moon. steve goes for bing crosby, and tony laughs into steve's shoulder, eyes shining in the silver lighting, "i'm starting to think you have a playlist all made up." steve presses a kiss to tony's head, "maybe i do." "sap." steve laughs, "only for you." tony then gives him the softest look, love so plainly there, and it leaves steve breathless, "aren't i lucky." steve thinks he's the lucky one.

they're in bed, tony had woken up from a nightmare and can't fall back asleep. steve's running his fingers through tony's hair and using his other hand to rub his thumb over tony's own hand. it seems to mellow tony out to some extent, but he's still tense and his eyes are glazed over, he's somewhere in his head, lost to whatever thoughts are consuming him. steve picks nat king cole now, though this time, he sings it himself. he's not a singer by any means, but he doesn't let that stop him. it pulls tony back to the present, and he cracks the tiniest of smiles. steve takes that as a win.

tony's hurt. he's hurt and he's unconscious and looks oh so pale and broken laying in the hospital bed. it's been nearly two days now, and steve is exhausted. he hasn't left the hospital chair, despite the rest of the team telling him he needs rest too. nat had almost dragged him out of there and to a shower and his bed, but he's nothing if not stubborn. she gave up, in the end, and told him to at least eat something, before leaving, saying she'd be back in the morning. steve clutches tony's hand, fighting the urge to cry yet again. he does the only thing he can think to do, the only thing that might be able to fix this in some way. he starts to sing. it's ella fitzgerald this time. his voice is dry, cracking with each word, but he keeps going. it's comforting, in a way, and he hopes it's comforting for tony too, hopes tony can even hear him. the tears come anyway, despite his best efforts, and the lyrics catch in his throat. then, in an answer to his prayers, tony squeezes his hand. it's weak but god, it's there and steve chokes out a sob, relief coursing through him. tony'll be okay.

"are you ready?" steve asks, moving to wrap his arms around tony's waist. "i was born ready, capsicle," tony says back with a wink, settling his arms around steve's neck. they fit together perfectly. frank sinatra starts to play, they had picked this one together, for this moment, and they start to dance. with the way tony's looking at him and the way the ring sits snug on his left hand, steve feels his heart swells in his chest and he can't help but lean in to kiss tony. tony smiles into the kiss and then laughs as everyone around them cheers. this is what pure happiness is, steve thinks, and rests his forehead against tony's. the song comes to a close and tony kisses him once more before tugging him towards the cake with a grin that rivals the brightness of the sun.

#can you tell i think about them every waking moment of my life #i can't help it #they're just so <33333 #there's a 98% chance i make this into an actual fanfic #steve really does have a playlist by the way #it's 24+ hours long #tony listens to the entire thing at least once a week #they're so stupidly gone for each other thanks for coming to my ted talk #also their rings are each other's colors #steve's is silver with a red stripe going down the middle and gold around the sides #and tony's is silver with a red stripe going down the middle and blue around the sides #i have so many silly little thoughts about them it's insane #steve rogers #tony stark #stevetony #stony #the avengers #marvel

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dc-marvel-crossovers · 11 days

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The DC/Marvel Crossover server is proud to present our summer Pool Noodle Party! Celebrating the rarest crossover pairs, both platonic and romantic. Courtesy of this post about ships that are too small to count as ships:

For our purposes, a “pool noodle” is a relationship tag that comes up with less than 30 hits on Ao3. Platonic (&) relationships count! Any and all crossover pairings with under 30 existing fics are welcome.

We have six themes. Each theme will have a week for posting creations and a week for celebrating — giving feedback and leaving comments. We’ll share everything that was created the previous week and try to spread the love, but also post rec lists of our favorite older fics that fit the theme.

For anybody who's interested in creating fanworks for existing fic, we'll be posting a list (soon) of fics whose authors have given permission for podfic, moodboards, art, and playlists inspired by their work!

Themes are relatively loose, so your ship might fit multiple themes — that’s fine! Entirely up to you when you post.

Check out the prompt lists! Keep in mind that fics do not have to fit a particular prompt, only the general theme for the week they're posted. These are just for inspiration.