Avengers vol. 3 #47Avengers vol. 3 #47
Title: “In the Heart of the Battle”
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Penciller: Manual Garcia
Inker: Bob Layton
Colors: Tom Smith
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Warbird is face down in the snow unconscious and dreaming. She is thinking of a time years ago when she was flying in a quinjet going to visit the Scarlet Witch. Suddenly without transition Warbird finds herself in a place with warm sweet air. She looks over her shoulder and sees Marcus. Warbird asks him who he is and what she is doing there. Marcus introduces himself and says that it is all right. Marcus touches her cheek and she finds it pleasant and finds that she can’t think straight. Marie Antoinette comes and shows Warbird the finest dresses and helps her select the nicest. Warbird giggles and wants to ask Marie why she still has her head on, but she keeps it to herself. Warbird listen to the music and her heart melts. She turns and sees Marcus. He keeps telling her that it is all right. They make love. Marcus is the son of Immortus and was born in Limbo. When Immortus left Marcus was stuck there. He was so lonely, but now he has her. In the real world, Warbird’s brow furrows, as she wants to shout to herself that it is all a trap. Warbird then finds herself in a hospital in New Jersey. She has become six months pregnant overnight with no reason why. Scarlet Witch tells Carol that she is an Avenger, and that she has friends who will stand by her no matter what. Carol is then at Avengers mansion giving birth. Marcus is born, or reborn, into the real world. He grows from infant to child and from child into an adult in the course of a few hours. Marcus’ appearance in the real world causes a disruption in time and he is forced to return to Limbo or he will die. Warbird tenses, as she knows what is coming next in the dream. She wants to stop it, but she can not. Marcus says that he will go, and says that perhaps he was destined to be alone. Carol says that what she felt for him in Limbo still lingers. She says that she will return to Limbo with him. Thor transports them there. In Limbo, Carol finds that she can’t think straight again. An irregularity in his connection to Limbo causes Marcus to grow years older in days and within a week he is dead. When Marcus dies, Carol’s mind clears and she realizes that Marcus used his father’s technology to subtly affect her into making her feel love. She feels hollow, used, violated, scared, angry, and alone. Carol figures out enough of Immortus’ technology to return to Earth. Shortly after returning Carol’s powers and memories are stolen form her. She gets her memories back, but for some reason she is emotionally uninvolved with most of them. This memory however she gets back in full.
In the real world, Warbird is still face
down in the snow. The Plodex wolves approach Warbird to see if
she is dead. She is startled awake and blasts the wolves back.
She realizes that her blasts aren’t as powerful as they
should be, but then realizes that her body has been drawing off
her power to keep her from freezing to death. Warbird flies off
to try and find a place she can defend the wolves away from. She
thinks to herself that she has to find a power source to charge
herself up with. 
Suddenly,
Scarlet Centurion is floating behind her. He asks if she is all
right. Warbird freaks. Her mind screams that he is Marcus since
Kang and Immortus are the same man, and that their sons are the
same man. She attacks Centurion and says that he will find that
she is not such easy prey this time. Caught off guard, Centurion
stands there as Warbird’s first punch shatters his helmet
and her second punch shatters his chest plate. She keeps hitting
him until Centurion smashes his spear into the ground and
releases a charge of energy. He says that he did not come there
to fight. Centurion says that while he commends her efficiency
that she has damaged his skiff and his internal communications
system. He says that it will take a while before the
self-repairing circuits will heal them to the point where he can
signal for retrieval. Warbird asks Centurion what he came there
for if not to fight. She reminds him that they are enemies.
Centurion says that he knows, but that he can’t help it. He
says that her strength, beauty, and her inner fire have enchanted
him ever since he first saw her. He says that he couldn’t
just let her die. He came to offer assistance. She asks what kind
of assistance. He says whatever he can do, and offers her his
halberd to power up on. She thinks about it, but decides that he
could be hiding mind-controlling devices inside it. She asks if
that is how he is going to take control of her again. Centurion
says that he doesn’t know what she is talking about. Warbird
doesn’t believe him. Centurion uses his halberd to start a
fire to at least provide warmth. They sit there at the file for a
while in silence until Centurion speaks again. He says that he
has accessed his father’s files, and that he believes he
knows what “Marcus” she speaks of. He assures her that
he is not that Marcus. He explains that he is the son of Kang,
not Immortus. He says that he was born in a different place at a
different time to a different mother. He says that he has had a
different past and a different upbringing. Marcus says that Kang
and Immortus are temporal doubles. He asks if it is hard to
believe that they would have similar looking sons, and that both
have a shared past where the name Marcus was important to them.
Warbird just stares at Marcus. He says that she is wary, and with
good cause, but that unlike that other Marcus he was raised to
know the value of honor. In times past, Kang explains to a
younger Marcus that he should always act with honor, and that a
battle lost with honor is no shame, but that a victory through
treachery is a stain that cannot be cleansed. He tells Warbird
that he was raised a warrior, and learned the warrior’s way.
He says that he fights for what he wants openly and honestly, or
he does not deserve to win it. Warbird says that she isn’t
so sure that Kang is the honorable warrior that Centurion
believes, but that even if he were right that she can’t take
the chance. Marcus accepts and admires this. He says that at
least he can help her attain her goal.
Marcus takes Warbird to an outcropping of the Master’s base that he spotted. He senses the easiest to access point and blasts a hole so that they can enter. Warbird says, “not bad” and hopes that he won’t detect them. Warbird hopes there is a power source she can power up with. Inside the base they find a lab where creatures float in tubes. Centurion says that the creatures look like the sea-wolves, but engineered for different environments. Warbird says that Alpha Flight’s files say that the Master wanted to create such creatures, but that he didn’t have the raw genetic material. She recalls that Master had been after Marrina, but that she heard that she died. Warbird and Centurion open a door where a woman that looks exactly like Marrina is floating. Suddenly Warbird and Centurion are confronted with four gun-toting creatures. Centurion holds out his halberd and says that Warbird must recharge herself. Warbird still says that she can’t. The creatures fire on them. Centurion says that if she won’t defend herself then he will. Centurion steps forward and takes the blasts. Warbird leaps into action and says that they just gunned down a very brave man. Warbird says that since Centurion doesn’t have any of his men around that it is up to her to make them pay. Warbird smacks the four of them down. She grabs the power source out of their weapons and absorbs the energy. Warbird is checking on Centurion, but still can’t find it to touch him. He says that he will heal. One of the creatures reaches a gun and fires at them. Without thinking Warbird pulls Centurion out of the path of the blast. The blast creates a vacuum. Warbird can keep from being sucked into it, but in his weakened state Centurion cannot. Centurion glimpses the dark, fetid sight and feels the overwhelming wave of hunger and bloodlust filling his mind, nearly drowning him. Centurion’s halberd manages to hook on the outsides of the hole that was created. The thing inside grabs a hold of Centurion’s foot with a tentacle and starts pulling him in. Warbird sees that Centurion won’t last long, but he won’t call out for her help. She decides that she has to help him even if it means touching his halberd. She tells Marcus to hold on. She grabs a hold of the metal and thinks to herself that it just feels like metal. She pulls Marcus free, and he thanks her both for her help and for calling him by his name.
Shortly, Centurion uses his halberd to weld something over the hole. Warbird says that there was something like that in the Alpha Flight files, but that it was supposed to be dead as well. She says that she bets that thing is the genetic father of all the Plodex. Centurion brings up that she made contact with him, but that he didn’t attack or use mental control on her to make her love him. Centurion asks if Warbird agrees. Warbird says that she couldn’t know, and asks how she could know why she feels what she feels. Warbird receives a radio communication. Yellowjacket, Quicksilver, and Silverclaw tell Warbird that they have regrouped and are ready to try again. They send the coordinates to her. Centurion says that his communications gear is functioning again, and that he has sent for a new transport. Warbird punches a hole through the wall and absorbs some energy. Centurion says that he isn’t sure of the depth of what she has been through, and that if he has won her regard that she has no way of knowing if he did so honestly. Centurion says that he knows that he did, but that it is not enough. Centurion says that she no longer needs his physical help, and that she will accept no other so he will go. He says that if he can think of a way to prove himself to her, without betraying his father, that he will return. Warbird watches him go and thinks of excuses of why she lets him go.
At the Avengers deep space monitor station, Living Lightning says that this is insane. Quasar says that this is how they agreed to serve. Living Lightning says that this is fine for Quasar because he has to stay away form the Earth anyway, but that there is a war on Earth and he is stuck out there. He says that he wants to do his part. Quasar says that they just can’t abandon their post, and that you never know what might happen. Suddenly the alarm goes off. They spot something big headed very quickly towards Earth. A giant pyramid rockets towards Earth.
Avengers Files rating: 7.5 out of 10
The story is still kind of dragging along, but this time it seems with a good purpose. We learn exactly what is happening inside Warbird’s head. We see Centurion making the independent decisions that his father told him to make though he also told him not to think so much on women. Is that Marrina inside the Master’s clutches? An interesting read though it holds you back another month from seeing what you really want to see. Where the Kang story is going. This is Manuel Garcia’s best outing on Avengers to date, but I still find his faces lacking in spots.