#20 - Blasts of the Past

By Gary Dreslinski

^ The hammer of Thor whizzed by my head.

The Hammer. Of THOR whizzed by my head.

Mjornir is something used when you need to remove mountains from your path. If it struck me with the force it had as it went past, no helmet would stop it from cracking my skull open.

Yet, Thor threw it at me, intending to hit me. I guess he used to do that a lot in the old days, throwing around an original weapon of mass destruction like it was a toy. Very few people can even lift the thing off the ground. You have to be worthy. In the hands of its master, it is one of the most powerful weapons to come out of Asgard.

A sane person would attempt to be anywhere but in the path of an angry god of thunder.

No one has ever accused me of being sane.

What am I doing? I’m on a jet black bat-winged horse, with a power-lance crooked under my arm, quite a distance off the tops of the buildings - CHARGING the God of Thunder, who’s hammer is in the process of returning to his hand.

My name is Dane Whitman, and this is my last will and testament.

No, seriously. My name is Dane… but everyone here thinks that I am my uncle Nathan Garrett, the Black Knight famous for being part of the original Masters of Evil, the man who asked me to take up his legacy and clear up our family name by fighting on the side of angels.

Why would they think that? Maybe because a second ago, he was here, and now I’m the one astride his mount. Of course, a second ago I was in the middle of massive storm caused by the torment of a man who called himself Immortus.

I’m not sure if Immortus survived my attack or not. I’m not sure I’m going to survive the repercussions. I don’t know what caused it, but Immortus somehow thrust me back in time to take the place of my uncle Nate. Since he’s not here, I can only imagine that he’s in the storm. I could be wrong, but that’s the way these crazy things tend to work.

Hope he figures out a way out of it.

I wonder what he’s going to make of the fact that all of Europe is cut-off from the rest of the world due to the Black Mass Barrier? I wonder what he’s going to do with a second chance at life?

I wonder how I’m going to survive…

I pull up on the reigns just in time to see the hammer return to Thor’s hands.

Am I here to make things right? Can I change the past? What affect with that have on the future?

I’m read this account before, they fight for a while, and the Black Knight is soon overwhelmed and put in jail.

I still remember my mother on the phone with Nate when he called her to arrange bail. I wasn’t supposed to hear, but I had my ear to the door. Nate was trouble… Nate was in trouble… Nate was troubled… these were things that I knew from the time I knew that I had an uncle. I didn’t know about his costumed identity. He kept that much from us. We only knew when he needed help… when he needed his family to be there for him.

I can change that though.

"Donald. Look at me."

Hopefully I have it right. Thor’s had so many different mortal identities over the years, it’s hard to keep track. But I believe the first one was Dr. Donald Blake. His eyes shifted ever so slightly, as if he wanted to say something, in shock, but stopped himself at the last possible second.

"I’m not the man you were fighting."

The hammer stays firmly in his grasp, a positive development. I keep talking instead of launching the attack with the deadly devices stored inside the lance. In fact, I tip it downward to show that I mean my future Avengers teammate no harm.

"I know it’s hard to believe, but he was transported into the future, where I am from. We know each other Thor… Donald… we’re friends…. Teammates." The hammer quivers in his hand for a moment before settling back into the ready positive. He’s looking at me like I’m insane, but at least he’s looking. "We need to stop the Masters of Evil, and then we can figure out how to get me back to my proper time period."

The hammer is raised into the air, I wonder for a half second if he’s going to throw it at me. He doesn’t, "I do not know why - but I believe you" he replied, turning in mid-air, back toward what I assume is the main battle. "Do not prove me mistaken." ^

One moment he had been in the middle of a pitched battle with the so-called God of Thunder. The next he was… where? Nathan Garrett checked his surroundings. He was on the soaked ground, without his steed, and he was holding… a sword.

Not just any sword though, he felt the power in it. Power the likes he had not seen in ages. Even the mighty Doctor Zemo could not claim to have such power at his disposal. With something like this in his hand, there was no telling what he could accomplish…

"Dane?" A woman was calling in the distance. He didn’t recognize her voice. Not for the first time did he wish that his large clunky helm gave him a better view of his surroundings. It protected him, which was the goal, but it didn’t give him much of a view to the sides., not to mention the humidity was broiling his head. Nathan hoped the sweat would keep out of his eyes long enough to excess the situation, and get to somewhere safe. He turned his head slightly as a lovely brunette came down the embankment toward where he was sitting.

She repeated the name "Dane". Apparently that was who she was looking for. It was a good name, the name of his own nephew in fact, but…

He looked around again, wondering about the possibilities…

He started to stand up, but a blast of energy from the woman knocked him back off his feet. "It’s not Dane over here!" the woman yelled to what he assumed were yet unseen companions, "It’s the Dreadknight!!!"

"So," Oracle asked, as he leaned over the prone Immortus, "Come here often?"

Immortus did not stir.

"You’re sure a smooth talker. Let’s see… future. Well, you’re going to be dead within the year. That’s certainly not good for investments. Better cash them in now, live a little. Um, wow. That’s certainly an interesting way to go.. man, don’t envy you there. Of course I’m the guy who got his head chopped off by a wanna be Knight, so who am I to talk ya know?"

Immortus continued not to stir.

"Hmm… present. Well, I pretty much know that. Comatose, for the most part. Being annoyed that some head with a spectral body keeps yammering on at you… man, I hate that too!!! We have so much in common, we should get a pad somewhere. Maybe get us some wacky neighbors and get into misadventures. We could have our own spin off!"

There was a lack of stirring from Immortus.

"Nah, you’re right. It’s been done to death. Scratch the road-trip idea too… why don’t I just have a look at your recent past and see if we can figure out how you got to be in the middle of that storm. How ‘bout buddy? Aw… don’t look sad… I think the two of us should sign up for that show ‘The Amazing Race’. We can travel around the world… well, that is when the rest of the world isn’t on the other side of the Black Mass Barrier… we can see things in, well, uh, Europe… it’ll be fun!!!"

"Are you quite finished?" Druid asked, his arms folded in front of him. Oracle hadn’t seen him come up, but one of the advantages of seeing into future was that he had not only known when he was showing up, but what he was going to say. Which is why Sean was able to say "Nope" at the same moment the question was asked!

"Please don’t…" "Do what?" "do that.. damn you, stop finishing my…" "semi colons? What’s finishing my semi colons?" "semi colons… wanted to see if you were paying attention." "I am. Let me get back to this." "Have you.." "Yes, I’ve found out some stuff. I’m about to find out a lot more, but I’m trying to hide it from myself so I can act all surprised."

He watched carefully as Dane Whitman spoke to the original members of the Avengers. Giant Man seemed to believe the story, Captain America looked skeptical, until Dane told him where to find Zemo and what sort of traps the arch fiend had waiting for him. The Wasp appeared to be staring at Dane with stars in her eyes, and he would smile back at her from time to time, bordering between and uneasiness and keeping his cool.

This was a good world. These would be good people.

He looked over the rest of the planet… searching… oh yes, things would be good this time…

Zemo went down to one knee. Captain America, full of fury, was poised to finally finish the man who had killed his partner Bucky. Dane stared at the scene, hypnotized by it. This had happened before - but not here. Not now. There were many adventures that were supposed to happen.

On the other hand, if it meant that Cap was able to get his revenge, and settle down earlier, wasn’t that a good thing?

Of course, it was kind of funny to be staring at the man who had once condemned him for helping to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence dealing out his own brand of capital punishment. It was sort of ironic that… no, it wasn’t ironic… it was wrong. Cap shouldn’t do that… even if he’d done it before… he shouldn’t have to…

Dane wished for his blade back… but failing that, he pushed the button on the side of the lance and watched as the energy bolt blasted from the end, striking Zemo down, and knocking the unprepared Captain America to the ground. Iron Man grabbed Dane by the front of his costume, "What do you think you’re trying to do??"

"I think I’m trying to save a good man from making a stupid mistake." Dane answered.

But Cap was already on his feet. Zemo was stunned, but still breathing. Dane couldn’t look away, he knew that was about to change, There was a tension in the air. The air was almost alive… as if someone were watching this all play out and…

A voice boomed from out of nowhere

"I AM THE BEYONDER. SLAY YOUR ENEMIES AND ALL THAT YOU DESIRE SHALL BE YOURS."

The Avengers stared up at the empty sky for a moment… as Dane looked around for signs of the Beyonder, or at least someone claiming to be him. After the Beyonder wasn’t due to show up on Earth for years… he was much too early. Then again, Dane thought uncomfortably. He was pretty damn early himself.

But…this wasn’t Battleworld. This was Earth.

And, it took Dane a moment to realize this - the message hadn’t been sent just to the Avengers. If this was the Beyonder, and he did give his instructions, he gave them to every last man, woman and child on the planet.

There was no telling what sort of panic this was going to start. The Avengers had to gather together the heroes of the world, to try to keep the peace. They had to reason with the Beyonder… they had to stop this from happening…

A red, white and blue shield crashed down on Zemo’s throat, shattering his neck.

First blood had gone to the Avengers.

The war had began.

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