#the first one's for context of ant handling it haha

[six-eyed-samurai]

LONGTIME SECRETARY

The only ones who could fall in love with Tecchou (besides us, his fanbase) is someone who’s known him for a long, long time, inside out and realizes him for the silly boy he is. And let's say that someone is his secretary…

🌸O-kay, first to get down on how you both met. It's probably when Tecchou has just started his Hunting Dog career and they sort of realize…he doesn't exactly have the most conventional of habits and diet, so the higher ups decided he needed someone to keep him in check and perhaps tone down his more questionable tastes.

🌸That’s where you come in, hired as a “secretary” (because he's also probably horrible at paperwork) but you're more of a PA than anything. What else? Your job also requires you to ensure he doesn't consume anything too…uh…yeah

🌸How does Tecchou feel about this? A little confused as to why he needs someone following him around like this and maybe put out at how everyone doesn't understand why the food needs to be colour coordinated but you're actually super nice and apologetic when you have to replace his food with something more edible

🌸Actually, as time goes by, he gets even more enamored by you!

🌸You don't sigh in exasperation when he squats down to look at ants. In fact you just worry about whether crouching in that position is a good idea for long periods of time and so fetch him a chair or at least something to sit on. Sometimes you even watch ants with him! Tecchou’s more than happy to yap about them to someone other than Jouno, and you're actually such a better listener because Jouno thinks it's a waste of time

🌸You never rush him if he’s running late for a meeting or an appointment, or when he’s late from coming from one. He finds the feeling of you fussing (was he was stressed from all the back-to-back meetings? You could rearrange his schedule if he wanted; has he drunk enough water, was the surgery painful?) and taking off his coat for him…oddly sweet. Domestic is the word. He thinks he might be still woozy from the surgery because why else was he imagining a fantasy of where you both were married, you his precious spouse sending to him after a long day of work? So if course he says so!

(”You’d make a good spouse.”

Okay, out of all the out of context things Tecchou might’ve said this week, this one took the cake. You opened and shut your mouth, bewildered but…uh, complimented? “That’s…nice. Why the sudden…?”

“I just think you would.”

“Um, why?”

“You clean up after me a lot without any complaints. And you're good with food. You handle everybody the same way as well.” Tecchou frowns. “That sounds sexist. It's not what I meant.”

You're just a bright ray of sweet sunshine, he meant, in the storm of Hunting Dog work, making everybody's day with your signature smile, patience and helpfulness. Or maybe that's just him.

“Oh no, don't worry.” Your eyes soften. “I get what you mean…and thanks, Tecchou-san.”

“I think anyone will be lucky to marry you. You'd take care of them well. You're a really good secretary too.”

“Haha, let's not go to the topic of marriage yet…you've still got two meetings, remember?”

Tecchou's still thinking about other things though. “Huh. It's kinda like you're married to me then. Sometimes you do stuff for me even though you didn't need to.”

With that he strode off with those ridiculously long legs, leaving you gaping and wait, he had noticed all of that?!)

🌸You don't judge him for randomly doing push ups during meetings either. Obviously it took you a few times, always getting startled when you walk in to inform him of things and instead nearly trip over him before you finally got used to it. After a few more times, Tecchou even managed to convince you to sit or stand on his back - he'll deny it but he feels really…something he's not quite sure of when you reluctantly do it, but it's a good feeling! Like he's…proud? But of what?

🌸He was a bit put off by how you kept following him around whenever he went out to eat but after you sheepishly explained it was an important part of your job and didn’t really have a choice about it, Tecchou decided to just leave it be. Understandably he was confused as to why he couldn’t eat a hard boiled egg with the shell still on (it’s the most nutritious part, don’t you know?) but then you pointed out the egg whites could match a shade of white bread, giving him a more reasonable diet. The same goes for the fries he was going to eat with bananas, the matcha he was dumping on spinach noodles, the frog eggs you secretly replaced with chia seeds…let’s just say you managed to give him a more acceptable meal and nicely while you were at it, stunning the rest of the Hunting Dogs.

🌸Little did you know one of the reasons he actually agreed to these changes were so that he could share his food with you - he’d picked up on the fact you’d politely declined to some of his tastes, but not on that he had actually been subconsciously wanting to copy the couples who fed each other…until Tecchou attempted to spoon feed you.

(”Mphm!” Your head tilted back in surprise, the spoon your boss had just stuck into your mouth dangling from your lips. You pulled it out, startled and flustered. “Tecchou-san, what was that for?”

He blinked. “I thought you liked miso soup?”

“No, no, I do but…why’d you stick the spoon in my…mouth?” A reason popped into your mind and it made you extremely embarrassed. “Are…you trying to feed me?”

“Sorry, perhaps I aimed it wrong.” Tecchou gestured at the couple making goo-goo eyes at each other while sharing a bowl of ramen at the next booth happily, obliviously. “I saw them doing that-”

“Tecchou-san, that’s what couples do when they date.” You stifled a laugh. “I can feed myself, but thank you for trying. Maybe a little warning next time?”

“Oh. I thought friends did that as well.”

“We’re friends?” You pondered on it for a while - your relationship, while a little too friendly to be considered just boss and secretary, had never been fully defined before. But it was kind of nice. You broke into a smile. “If you say so.”

And though he was the one to call you both friends Tecchou didn’t recognize the ache to be something more growing in his chest.)

🌸Unbeknownst to Tecchou, he's starting to develop a crush on his cute, caring secretary and the signs are beginning to show - very obviously to his co-workers.

🌸It’s clear as day to Jouno, who can hear the very, very slight speeding up of Tecchou's heart rate whenever you show up. He also notices the insane amount of times Tecchou has managed to bring you up in conversation, even for the most mundane of instructions. Jouno might be blind, but it's not like he can't notice how Tecchou attempts to be funny with his broken, serious sense of humour for you.

(”Wait…I'm sorry, I didn't get the joke…? It's very unlike you to make a pun as well, Tecchou-san.”

“I read on Facebook what making jokes with colleagues will help improve relationships so I decided to give it a try.”

“That's very old of you to use Facebook, Tecchou,” Jouno butts in sarcastically.

“Thank you. Is it working?”

You snort. “It is on me, I fear.”)

🌸He's failing miserably, Jouno thinks, even though you laughed. It's very irritating to see Tecchou so distracted by some secretary, so of course Jouno is going to do his best to push them together otherwise he won't focus on missions!

🌸Tachihara notices it when one day Tecchou stopped stopping to stare at ants. Or if he did, it was more of carefully selecting several ants to stow away previously in a container with holes. Confused, he asks him about it - and Tecchou calmly replies that you said his looking at ants was a tad distracting to missions and the higher ups have requested you do something about it, so doing your best to accommodate both sides you got Tecchou an ant farm, which he was…”ant-napping those insects for?!”

🌸Tachihara wonders how Tecchou finds the time to take care of the farm but his fellow Hunting Dog informs him you help out a lot, which reminds him, he should probably take you out to dinner in return. Tachihara’s about to argue he's not exactly supposed to pay you like that until he remembers this is how the both of you are and concludes you must be dating in secret, leaving Tecchou a little bewildered as to why Tachihara told him to bring flowers and chocolates, but he takes the suggestion to heart (you're flattered. Flustered, but flattered).

🌸If asked Fukuchi will say he saw it coming from a mile away (he did not). He DID spot some signs: namely, how Tecchou was prone to constantly texting or calling or emailing or however it was youngsters these days messaged each other you when they were away from headquarters, sometimes for reasons not even work related, brings you up in conversations often, wants to know everyone's opinion on you and makes offhand comments on how good you like occasionally.

🌸But that's about it. Fukuchi did not see any budding romance mostly because he'd oblivious and he didn't think that would happen after you accidentally drank his soy sauce latte one day.

🌸Teruko’s doesn't give a rat’s ass about her subordinates relationships or who they hire or what they do but she'll make a special case for Tecchou: he's got terrible taste in food usually, so obviously she'll suddenly observe how he's eating a more socially acceptable palate and what's this she hears about Tecchou pining over his secretary?

🌸She corners him one day to demand answer because of totally work related reasons (Teruko wants the tea) and announces he and you MUST be in a secret relationship so you both better not be doing anything you're not supposed to in front of Fukuchi, keep the mushy stuff to yourself!

(Tecchou is about to correct her, not wanting you to get uncomfortable if what she says gets around, but realises he is…not opposed to the idea at all - apart from the Fukuchi part, he means. Teruko walks away triumphantly, believing his silence is a “yes”, not knowing it's actually because his brain is still processing the fact that he might just have a crush on you.)

🌸When does he fully come to terms that he's fallen in love with you though?

🌸Sorry pal, about several years later. He's the epitome of slow burn.

🌸Hey, at least when he does, every day becomes take-your-spouse-to-work-day and your pay rise comes in kisses~

[challenge-ant]

BGT 01/06/2022

[yuzukimist]

I'm loving your snippets! If it's alright to ask for another one, 📝 + fire? Thanks!

Of course it’s okay to ask twice! (Or three/four/five/twelve times even! ;D). I’m just sorry it took me a whole day to answer lol (I wanted to reply right away, but working grocery retail during pre-Labor Day Friday is an Experience, and I was so tired after work that I pretty much came home and went *splat* XD)

ANYWAY! “Fire”~ This word appears a few times here and there in various WIPs. Hilariously, the first two instances I found during my search are in the context of “such-and-such felt like fire ants crawling on so-and-so’s skin” and like. What’s that meme, “something-something but it’s weird that it’s happened twice?” Definitely having that feeling right now, haha. XD

Anyway, in celebration of that utter ridiculousness (because it amuses me greatly), you guys get THREE SNIPPETS! Two where fire is used in the “fire ants” way and one snippet where it’s used not like that, lol. :P

SNIPPET #1 (FINAL FANTASY XV, PROMPTO TIME LOOP SERIES)

It never truly goes away, though, and right now it’s as if the brand knows the turn of this thoughts; it feels like fire ants are crawling up and down his right arm as he remembers Bahamut’s savage grip at the pivotal moment when he’d been cursed.

(He remembers Shiva’s grip, too, cool and soothing as she whispered something to him that he couldn’t understand, but other than a few glimpses of Gentiana in various loops he hasn’t seen the Glacian in any capacity that would’ve allowed him to grill her for answers and so that’s just something else he wonders about as he goes through loop after loop without any end in sight.)

SNIPPET #2 (FINAL FANTASY XV, PROMPTO TIME LOOP SERIES)

The answer to the question ‘how’re the kids getting along,’ as it turns out, is apparently ‘like a house on fire’.

They arrive at the training room just in time to see Selena tossing Gladio over her shoulder as if he weighs no more than a pillow, sending him tumbling ass over teakettle with a delighted whoop of laughter.

Prompto resigns himself to never having a moment’s peace ever again, for the rest of his life.

(Well, for the rest of this life, anyway.)

SNIPPET #2 (KINNPORSCHE, KIM-CENTRIC FIC)

“No.” Kim very abruptly can’t handle this conversation anymore. He doesn’t like standing there, injured and exhausted and feeling like he’s got fire ants crawling under his skin because his brother is making that face, some terrible combination of anger and grief and pity. “No, just-” His voice cracks and he has to swallow against a sudden tightness in his throat. “Just forget about it, okay?”

“Forget about it?” Kinn echoes, and hey, now there’s some outrage in the mix. Fantastic.  

“It’s not a big deal,” Kim snaps, “so don’t fucking make it one.” Damn, but he can’t stand the way Kinn is looking at him; it reminds him of the face his brother had made after Kim had done his first mission at the tender age of twelve.

[send me a 📝 + a word, and I’ll post an excerpt from a fic I’m currently writing that contains that word.]

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #1: Avengers Assemble!

September, 1984

WHO will answer Hawkeye’s call to join the new team?

I assume Mockingbird? I see her silhouette in the cover box and the assumption was that she and Clint were a package deal? I don’t know what it’s being played like its not a given.

Some good or at least interesting options here for the second team.

Red Wolf, Iron Man, Puck, I thiiiiink Crystal?, Doc Sampson, Mockingbird, Cyclops, Black Widow, Wonder Man, Tigra, Quicksilver, Hercules, Ant-Man, Namor, and the Shroud.

A lot of interesting options. I really want it to be Cyclops and I know its not going to be Cyclops.

STOP TEASING ME WITH AVENGERS CYCLOPS IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GIVE IT TO ME!

Also, this issue #1 of West Coast Avengers. Or at least the first issue #1. The team is introduced in a four issue miniseries before getting an ongoing - and a second issue #1 - about a year later.

This will be moderately confusing for my numbering but I’m brave enough to barrel on through anyway.

Last time in Avengers: Vision became the chairman of the Avengers and announced that due to the threat of the Dire Wraiths, the Avengers would be opening up a West Coast team led by newly married Hawkeye. In one page reminders of the subplot in various issues, Hawkeye and Mockingbird arrived in Los Angeles, went real estate shopping, and set up a new HQ in a nice compound that used to belong to an actress.

The team is only missing one thing.

A team.

Maybe it’s just me but I’d think that you’d get the team sorted out before you spent who knows how much renovating a compound up to the level required for a superhero team.

It’s going to be really embarrassing if you open a new Avengers team and nobody comes.

(Vision agrees and has taken the liberty of reaching out to several likely candidates.)

Mockingbird confirms that Hawkeye has invited her onto the team but she’s not even sure she’s Avengers material, she doesn’t even have powers.

Hawkeye: “Neither does Captain America! Neither do I! If I can be an Avenger -- !”

Mockingbird: “Anyone can, right?”

Hawkeye: “And people wonder why you took the code-name Mockingbird!”

Haha! I do like their chemistry!

He does clarify that its totally not just because she’s married to him (although I would point out that he kept trying to get Black Widow on the team based on them dating) but that she’s totally earned it! She has years of experience as a SHIELD agent!

Hawkeye calls Vision to let him know that the place is all set up and Vision lets him know about the reaching out to several likely candidates biz.

BOOM SCENE TRANSITION TO DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO at the office of private investigator Jessica Drew.

Because, yeah, Jessica Drew did the PI thing as an ex-superhero way before Jessica Jones. And Jessica Jones is probably Drew with some of the serial numbers scratched off.

ANYWAY, she’s talking to hardboiled Tigra, who helped her on the Enselmo case.

Jessica Drew: “I still laugh when I think about the way you ran our pigeon up and down Telegraph Hill!”

Tigra: “That was the best part of the case! After all... bringing pigeons to ground is second nature to a lady who’s half-cat!”

Jessica tries to offer Tigra a job (since this is before the internet and Tigra can’t find a lot of modeling jobs for models covered with fur) but Jessica’s secretary interrupts with a call for Tigra.

The call sounds ominous from Jess only hearing half of it but I’m 99.9% sure its Vision offering Tigra a spot on the West Coast Avengers.

Read Tigra’s replies with that context and you’ll laugh.

Tigra tells Jess that she’s got to book it to LA for business that she has to settle on her own but they’ll talk about Jess’ offer later.

Tigra: “Don’t worry, I’m a big girl... I can make my own mistakes!”

I feel like a little bit of clarification would have gone a long way here, Tigra.

Because Jessica assumes that Tigra is in trouble and decides to call someone to tail (ha) Tigra.

Meanwhile, a car chase in the Mojave Desert.

To cut to the car chase, this is a movie set filming a stunt spectacular car chase scene for what I’m pretty sure is James Bond.

Pyrotechnics are easy if you don’t stress blowing up the stuntman.

Because he’s near invulnerable.

The stuntman (Simon Williams, Wonder Man) does need to have buckets of water thrown on him to cool him off after being in an explosion but he’s otherwise fine.

Cool that Wonder Man found an acting job he can handle. He seems pretty thrilled with it.

One of the staff on set tells Simon that his trailer is buzzing and he realizes its his Avengers transceiver.

He receives his offer from Vision (although apparently a much more vague one than Tigra) and flies off after making sure he has no more stunts scheduled for the day.

An hour later and hundreds of miles elsewhere, Iron Man (the James Rhodes version) is flying around, minding his own business, thinking about how cool it is to have relocated to California to help Tony Stark open a new business, admiring the Standord University Linear Accelerator Center.

Just as he’s thinking that he hopes that Tony isn’t in a hurry to being Iron Man since he’s gotten used to it, Vision cuts in on the secret Iron Man radio frequency to call him in to the meeting.

Iron Man arrives twenty minutes later at the West Avengers compound on the Palos Verdes Peninsula bluffs and paraphrased does an impressed whistle at what a nice place it is.

Iron Man: “Some spread! This looks like the kinda place Tony would’ve hung out... before he lost Stark International! The best part of being his pilot in those days was ferrying him to spots like this! Who’d have thought I’d ever be invited on my own? Then again, who’d have thought little Jimmy Rhodes would grow up to be Iron Man?!”

Future knowledge bums me out a little with this. This is spoilers for a year from now and several issues from now but in the time gap between the West Coast Avengers limited series and the ongoing, Tony does take over being Iron Man again. I hope you enjoy all this while it lasts, Rhodey. And hey, War Machine is only like eight years away!

Tigra arrives and starts acting familiar with Iron Man because she thinks she knows its Tony and they were teammates for a bit.

She ditches the briefly identity obscuring trenchcoat and hat because dammit she has a year round fur coat and its hot in California!

She also might be flirting, although hopefully not as bad as she’ll get later in the ongoing. Spoilers for a year and several issues for now but it is a bafflingly bad subplot that Tigra gets given.

The other reason I bring it up is that this is the exact situation that led Rhodey to quit the Avengers when he became Iron Man. He felt it would be awkward interacting with people who already knew Iron Man well.

I guess he’s more comfortable with it now.

The West Coast Avengers roster that we already know about are all people who either quit the Avengers or don’t feel like they’d be a good fit. Which is just a great start so I’m interested to see if we’ll get justifications for why they’d sign up the minute a franchise opens.

Hawkeye takes Tigra and Iron Man off on a tour while a mysterious shrouded figure watches.

The tour concludes without us seeing the tour, boo. But it comes up that neither Iron Man or Tigra know why they’re here.

Iron Man was just told he was needed but didn’t get any more details. We know that Wonder Man got the same vagueness. And Tigra was just offered a $1000 dollar stipend to fly out to LA and see if she could “help the Avengers out!”

So Hawkeye gives them the sales pitch.

That Captain America made it a rule that except in emergencies, the Avengers’ roster would be limited to six members. But Vision decided that they need more than six Avengers but wanted to keep the team from becoming unwieldy so told Hawkeye to set up an expansion team: the West Coast Avengers!

It’ll basically be the same thing as the original Avengers in terms of by-laws and rights and privileges and both groups will be affiliated but the West Coast Avengers will be running their own show west of the Rockies.

If everyone here agrees to sign up, that’ll make a team of five with a sixth spot to fill.

But Tigra objects that she left the original team because she felt out of her depth and why would that be different here?

Ah, now there it is.

Justify it, Hawkeye.

Except he doesn’t because the intruder alarm goes off.

The intruder alarm all the way in the first basement level, which means their intruder has already penetrated deep into the compound and bypassed a lot of the security systems.

Hawkeye is sure that the intruder is actually a highly organized commando raid and he’s instantly proven wrong with an infrared scan shows just one guy.

Womp womp.

Hawkeye is also sure that however this just one guy got as far as he did, the security system in the next area will totally--

Womp womp.

Hawkeye is fed up at this point and seals off the security levels, forcing the dude back through the domestic areas. He then orders Iron Man, Tigra, and Mockingbird to split up to cover more ground that way and surround the intruder.

Not having much better to do, they do, but everyone has some misgivings in their thinky thoughts.

Iron Man: Hawk sounds like he really gets into giving orders. I don’t know if I like that.

Tigra: I must be some sort of masochist to get involved with Avengers again! They always seem to know what they’re doing... not like me! What am I doing here? What am I trying to prove?

Hawkeye: Should I let the others catch our intruder... or rush in and collar him myself? How would Cap handle this?

Mockingbird: Poor Hawk... He wants so much to be a good leader! I know he can do it, but I wish he wouldn’t try quite so hard! In a way, though, it’s funny... His first act as leader was having the team split up!

Mockingbird is the first to run into the intruder, suddenly being enveloped in a cloud of darkness. She can’t see anything but hears someone moving and launches one of her staves from her spring-loaded sleeve launcher.

Its a near miss, breaking a lamp instead of the intruder, who turns out to be Shroud. Y’know, that friend of Jessica Drew’s we met in that two-parter about saving Jessica Drew’s ghost?

Shroud realizes how skilled Mockingbird is and that he might have trouble if he takes her lightly so he goes right for the Vulcan neck pinch, knocking out Mockingbird. But she hits Shroud in the stomach guts with her second stave as she’s passing out.

Hawkeye then shows up, concerned that he hasn’t run into Mockingbird yet and drawn to the cloud of darkness, except not the Final Fantasy villain.

He shoots a light arrow, except not the Legend of Zelda powerup, into the cloud to no real effect so shrugs and shoots a sonic arrow instead.

Shroud flees the area and Hawkeye finds Mockingbird who tells him to shut up with the EEEEE arrow.

Hawkeye: “Where’d our man go?”

Mockingbird: “How should I know? It was dark!”

Hah.

The cloud of darkness passes through the area of the mansion/compound that Tigra is in and she recognizes it as Shroud’s darkness. She calls out to him but he doesn’t hear her because he’s in another wing about to be tackled by Iron Man who can see Shroud with his in-helmet radar.

Controlling darkness is all well and good until technology.

Ain’t it said, Rumia?

Shroud is also blind so all he knows is that an armored man is lunging at him until Iron Man calls him a fool for trespassing on Avengers turf.

And that’s when he realizes that he done goofed.

Hmm. What is that symbol on Shroud’s hood, anyway? It looks kinda like Aku.

Shroud manages to escape Iron Man’s grasp, sacrificing some of his neat cape. Although, it tears into an even cooler look so is it really a sacrifice?

He decides that he’s just going to get out of here.

Shroud: Have to get undercover and think out my next move. I don’t want to fight Avengers! That could become a life’s work -- and I have better things to do!

I can’t decide whether he means that he’d be at it all day or that this misunderstanding fight would lead him down an unwilling path of villainy as some third-string grudge holder.

Probably the former?

Anyway, Shroud is just leaping over the balcony when Wonder Man finally arrives and spots him. And unfortunately for Shroud’s ribs, he has been cultivating a reputation as a crimelord so Wonder Man flies in and tackles him into a tree.

Womp womp, except for Shroud this time.

Tigra shows up and jumps on Wonder Man from forty feet away to stop him from hurting Shroud any further, explaining that he’s her friend.

Shroud: “I’m certainly glad I’m not an enemy... I’d hate to think how I’d be treated then!”

Hah.

Later, in the medical room, I guess, Mockingbird applies bandages to Shroud’s ribs except on the outside of his costume. Does... does that do anything? Obviously not for open wounds. But for bruised bones, I guess the point is compression. But it feels less than ideal because he’d have to take off the bandages to take off his shirt. Just feels better to apply the bandages under the clothes, MOCKINGBIRD.

What makes it weirder is that we see him a couple panels later pulling his shirt down over the bandages. Which makes me think Mockingbird bandaged him on top of his costume and he had to pull his costume top out from under them and pull it down. He didn’t just stop her because that would be rude?

Shroud explains that Jessica Drew asked him to keep an eye on Tigra because of how the phone call made her act all weird. He followed Tigra from the airport to here and ran into a gaggle of superheroes. 

In the meantime, Hawkeye has verified Shroud with a report Captain America filed on him so Hawkeye believes he’s a good guy now.

Wonder Man and Iron Man apologize for going in swinging and Tigra for not just telling Jessica what the call was about. But Shroud tells them no permanent harm done.

Hawkeye decides to offer Shroud the last spot on the team (assuming that everyone already invited is going to choose to stay).

Hawkeye: “That trick you do with the dark is one slick little number... and anyone who can hold his own against us as long as you did obviously has what it takes in the skill department. Besides, what you did reminds me a little of how I introduced myself to the Avengers -- I broke in, too! Come on... What do you say?”

Shroud say... no.

He’s honored and a couple years earlier he would have jumped at the chance. But Wonder Man’s assumption didn’t come from nowhere. Shroud has been spending the last many months building up his outlaw rep so he can take down gangs from the inside.

Like the Green Hornet, I guess?

But since it’d be hard to be an Avenger West Coast AND keep up the fake outlaw thing, Shroud has to turn them down.

Shroud then pulls his cloud of darkness disappearing trick and nopes out.

With all that tied up, Wonder Man asks whats the big thing that Vision called him out for, leading an exasperated Hawkeye to start his West Coast Avengers sales pitch from the top.

Mockingbird: “That’s the spirit, fearless leader! Just remember, it can only get better from here!”

Hah.

So, that was the first issue of West Coast Avengers.

And there’s still no West Coast Avengers team.

Tigra and Iron Man still have reservations about the idea. Wonder Man has no idea why he’s there.

Its an interesting decision to hit the ground walking with this team. But it makes sense. The initial plan wasn’t for the West Coast Avengers to get an ongoing. This limited series was supposed to establish the concept, give a few Avengers affiliated characters something to be doing off-panel, and be able to be pulled in for crossovers and guest appearances as needed.

So the book can focus more on Hawkeye’s trials in actually getting this team going. He’s finally gotten to be a leader of the Avengers like he’s always wanted and now has to deal with all the frustration that Captain America or Hank Pym had with him, and then some.

Still, funny that the West Coast Avengers’ first adventure has them not only not a team yet but spending their time beating up a friend due to mistaken identity.

Will they get their act together by the next issue? Only time will tell. I tell a lie because Chronos never spoils stories. Only me will tell or maybe the Internet.

Follow @essential-avengers​ for the rest of the West Coast Avengers limited series. And for eventual bafflement when they get an ongoing. Also, like and reblog.