#37
| THE MS.
MARVEL GATEFOLD |
| Previously
...Ms. Marvel has decided to go to Texas to investigate
the mystery of Frank Gianelli and the mysterious and
cluttered package he sent to Carol. |
| CAST OF
CHARACTERS |
 MS.
MARVEL - CAROL DANVERS was accidentally irradiated by the
Kree built Psyche-Magnitron, giving her powers and
turning her into the heroine, MS. MARVEL! Now, after a
lifetime that has seen her as a NASA security chief,
writer, magazine editor, intelligence operative, Avenger
and transformed into the cosmically powered heroine
BINARY, Carol has regained her Ms. Marvel identity and
powers and is the living embodiment of merged Kree/Human
genetic potential. |
| PARAMOUR and VELVET - Little
is known about the two femle assassins except that they
wear the same costume, which includes a belt of tricks
around their waist. |
| RED WOLF - Will
Talltrees wears the ceremonial garb of the Red Wolf, a
champion of the Cheyenne. |
| NORTHERN
BEAR PRODUCTIONS |
Weird on the Range
Part One: Go West,
Young Woman!
written by Mark
Bousquet
OSTRANDERVILLE, TEXAS
Maria Juenez only wanted a ride home from school.
She hated taking the bus home, the driver was a mean old lady
who always, purposely, went right past Maria's stop. The fifteen
year old girl didn't know why she had caught the ire of the bus
driver, but she had.
Joe Phillips, a senior who lived up the road from her, offered
to give her a ride. She didn't hesitate to hop into his car. Joe
was a nice guy, her and her friends had spent plenty of study
halls flirting with him.
Now she wished she hadn't.
She lay on the ground, her eyes red from crying, her ears
tired from the taunts of Joe and his three friends, her body
… Maria didn't want to think about what they had done to her
body.
They sat in a circle around a fire a short ways away from her,
drinking and laughing and ignoring Maria now that they were done
with her. She could run, if she wanted to, but they were
somewhere out in the desert, miles from town. She shivered, the
night was cold out here, and she had no want to go sit by the
fire.
"Hey, Maria, want something to drink?" one of the
boys asked, laughing, from the fire, offering her a beer.
"She's too young to drink, you loser!" Joe laughed
and they once again let Maria alone.
Maria turned her head from them and started to cry again when
she heard one of them scream. Quickly, she picked her head up to
see Joe's friends lying on the ground, unconscious. Joe was
standing, shaking in fear, looking at …
… the NIGHT RIDER!
The ghostly rider on the ghostly horse towered over the
shaking high school student and as frightening a visage as the
Night Rider was, Maria knew that she was finally safe.
Carol Danvers checked herself in under an assumed name - Carol
Rogers, she was nothing if not ironic - into the town's only
hotel, a six-room, two floor building that somehow remained
upright. It also served as the town's bar, which meant that the
local "flavor" was in full effect - plenty of
hard-drinking, hard-working men who didn't feel like spending the
night at home.
Ostranderville wasn't a bad town from what Carol had seen -
just small and set in it's ways, ways that depended upon a person
to do hard work for little money. There were few wealthy people
in town.
But something seemed out of place.
She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something
about Ostranderville that didn't quite feel right. Carol walked
up the creaky, wooden stairs, ignoring the stares of the locals.
A town like this was always suspicious of strangers - not because
of any perceived creepiness, but because it was small. She had
planned to go straight to Houston, since that's where Frank or
Frank's mysterious helper had sent the package from,* but she had
found a map of Texas with a star around Ostranderville. She
figured it was as good a place as any to start looking.
* It was
Frank and he did it in MS. MARVEL 32, but Carol doesn't know it
was him, and the FBI has since told Carol that Frank is dead.
That's what we call a mystery, folks! -- Scooby Biscuit
Opening the wooden door to her room, Carol was glad to be
inside. She had flown down here by commercial jet and the jet lag
was getting to her. She was torn between resting and starting to
look for the person who sent the package, but she didn't really
know how much of a hurry she should be in. If Frank was in
trouble, he could've scribbled a "Carol, help!" message
in their somewhere, but he hadn't. He had the time to put the
package together, so he certainly had time to scribble HELP
somewhere. Most likely, she figured, whoever sent it had probably
come across it and knew that Frank had worked for Woman Magazine.
But that would mean that Frank didn't send the package, which
would mean that he was - No, she scolded herself. Don't start
thinking about all the possibilities.
But Carol wondered if she was telling herself all this because
it was the most logical solution, or if her lack of emotional
attachment to her memories caused her not look at the situation
with the urgency it needed.
All she wanted to do now was hop in a nice hot shower, some
food, grab some sleep and start looking tomorrow. She started the
water in the tub to let it warm up, glad that the seemingly 19th
century hotel at least had decent bathrooms, and began to remove
her clothing.
As she stepped into the shower, she had the strangest sense
that someone was watching her, but there were no windows in the
small room and the door to the bedroom was shut. There was no way
someone could be watching her and yet she couldn't shake the
feeling.
SOMEPLACE ELSE
A creature sat and watched a scrying pool. On it's surface,
Carol Danvers stood in a bathroom shower stall and bathed.
OUTSIDE
In the farthest northwestern corner of Ostranderville - a town
that was small in population but large in land - behind the
secret Native American burial grounds, a government installation
hummed to life. Men in beige camouflage worked quickly in the
cool night, exiting from the hangar that was the only structure
inside the barbed wire fence perimeter.
The fence was peculiar in and of itself, Red Wolf noticed.
There was no break in it's circle for an entranceway. Nothing got
in and nothing, apparently, got out.
Will Talltrees had been watching this facility for days now,
and he still didn't have an idea as to what was going on down
there in a facility that, as far as he knew, shouldn't be there.
Army men came out, took readings with various pieces of
equipment, and then went back inside.
Red Wolf frowned at the same moment his wolf companion, Lobo,
growled.
"Catch that scent, boy?" Will asked the dog, who
answered with a louder growl. "I can't place it, but I am
almost certain that I have never encountered it before. It is
almost … not human."
THE HOTEL
Carol couldn't sleep.
She was bothered by too many things to relax. First was Frank,
second was the increasing sense of uneasiness, but in the back of
her mind her thoughts had turned to Aurora. Where was she? Why
had she left Avengers Mansion?*
* Check out
MS. MARVEL 35 for details
She needed some fresh air. If this was New York, she would
have simply taken a fly around the city, but down here in a small
town she figured she'd go our for a walk as Carol Danvers.
That's when the explosion rocked the outskirts of town.
Instantly she changed into the Ms. Marvel costume and flew out
the window like a shot, hurtling towards the billowing clouds of
smoke and fire in the distance. She was surprised at how far away
the blast was because the intensity made her think that it was
much closer. It was a major explosion and she thanked the heavens
that it had happened as far away from the center of town as it
had.
She poured on the speed, thinking that if she just had her
Binary powers, it would be incredibly easy to simply soak up this
heat and flame. But she didn't and, she figured, all things
considered she was glad to be rid of them.
Smoke rushed to meet her and Ms. Marvel blasted through it
without fear of what lay on the other side. She blasted through
the last of the smoke and the scene opened up before her.
It was horrific.
It was AIM.*
* Advanced
Idea Mechanics
The carnage was already obvious. Bodies - the bodies of
American military men and women - were strewn about the ground.
Carol prayed that they'd be okay, but at the same time wondered
what a government installation would be doing out here. Before
she had come down to search for Frank, she had done some checking
for military installations in this area to see if there was
anyone she used to work with stationed down here.
She hadn't read or heard a thing about this place.
'No time for that now,' she frowned and descended like a bolt
to the ground. AIM troops, their bright yellow uniforms giving
them away, stormed over the installation - which looked to be a
small airplane hangar and nothing else. Smoke and fire poured and
erupted from everywhere - including up out of the ground - as
gunshots fired back and forth. AIM was trying to surround the
hangar and by the looks of the number of troops they had, they
might be able to do it.
But why would AIM be here in such force?
Ms. Marvel arced to avoid the ground, coming in low and
blasting through AIM's troops, hitting everything she could get
her hands on. She wondered if she'd be enough to turn the tide
all by herself. AIM had the military troops pinned down, and kept
the entrance covered with sprayed bullets.
Her arrival had caused a commotion within AIM's ranks, but no
sooner had Ms. Marvel begun to cut a path through their ranks
when another commotion came from the other side of the complex.
'Looks like the cavalry has arrived,' Carol grinned. 'Wonder
who it is?'
She arced up high into the sky to see who it was.
"Woo-hoo! Mah, mah, mah, now this is a fight!"
"Stop bragging and keep these AIM troops on the
run!"
"Yes, sah, pretty lady! These AIM troops don't stand a
chance against TEXAS TWISTER and SHOOTING STAR!"
PLEXIKAARD, NORWAY
Velvet hung limply in her bonds, finally waking after her
punishment at the hands of Paramour had led to unconsciousness.
The young assassin listened for several moments to detect if
there was any sound. There wasn't. Paramour was probably off
meeting with their next associate.
Using techniques that Paramour had taught her, Velvet wiggled
her hands free above her head and quickly freed her shackled
ankles. She feared no more punishment from Paramour for freeing
herself - the older assassin had made it quite clear that she
would not ever free Velvet and that if she was to be a
full-fledged Grellian assassin then she would have to learn how
to free herself.
She winced as she stretched her limbs, the welts on her flesh
bringing pain with every breath she took.
She crawled to the bathroom to bathe. The beating came because
she had applied salve to cure the Brimstone Powder that
threatened to burn the eyeballs from Ms. Marvel's face.* Velvet
thought she had been doing the right thing. Paramour had trained
her to always keep an opponent off-guard and guessing about your
true intentions, and that the kinder you acted to an enemy, the
greater the advantage that was yours.
* Back in
MS. MARVEL 34
But Paramour was not happy with Velvet's actions. She was
furious, taking it as an insult for her squire to help an enemy
that had just bested Paramour in combat.
Velvet knew there was only one thing she could do to save
face. She'd have to take out Ms. Marvel and pledge the victory to
Paramour - it was the highest honor a Grellian squire could place
upon her master. Wherever the heroine was, Velvet would track her
down … and kill her.
OSTRANDERVILLE, TEXAS
"What do you mean we shouldn't be here?" Ms. Marvel
fumed. "We're saving your-"
"Don't talk to me like that, young woman!" General
Kint shot back at the Female Fury. Carol had flown into the
hangar to try and coordinate some kind of attack with the
military troops caught inside, now that Texas Twister and
Shooting Star were outside battling AIM. But General Kint - an
old war-horse if there ever was one - wasn't exactly rolling out
the red carpet. "The US military can certainly handle a
bunch of AIM troops."
"Oh, yeah, you're doing a great job," Ms. Marvel
countered, pointing to the turmoil that was going on just outside
the large, barn doors. Carol certainly hadn't come in here to get
into a fight, but she wasn't about to back down, either.
'Probably grandstanding in front of his troops. Wouldn't want to
be shown up by a woman, would we?' she scoffed to herself. But
looking around the inside of the hangar, she noted that even as
the firefight was going on, army troops were busy covering up
pieces of equipment with tarp. Why would they be so concerned
with hiding whatever it was they were hiding when AIM was right
outside trying to get in? AIM may be stupid, but they're not that
stupid.
"Look, miss, this is a secret government
installation!" General Kint. "You're being here
compromises our security!"
"And AIM's doesn't?"
"AIM obviously knew what was here or they wouldn't have
shown up!" Carol did not like the way the General was
getting in her face.
Or the way his actions were making less and less sense to her.
"Forget it!" she fumed and raged out of the hangar to
take her anger out on the AIM troops. Texas Twister (what was
with that blue cowboy outfit?) and Shooting Star were
concentrating their attack on the far end, so Carol decided to
look for the leader.
He was easy to spot, being the only one here shouting orders
and the only one here surrounded by a small group of AIM troops.
Ms. Marvel was going to end this and end it now. She poured on
her speed and knocked him cold across the battlefield.
AIM was finished.
THE RIDGE
On a ridge overlooking the battle, Will Talltrees stood and
watched his former partners in the Rangers, Texas Twister and
Shooting Star, battle the AIM troops that had descended onto this
once quiet piece of desert. Red Wolf saw no need to join them in
their battle, even though, as a former member of the United
States army, he was sorely tempted.
But they had the battle in hand. After Ms. Marvel took out the
leader, all that was left was rounding up the disorganized
troops. Texas Twister raged with the fury of a twister, spinning
wind around the plains, keeping AIM continuously off balance,
while Shooting Star blasted away with her six shooters, her
special bullets knocking them unconscious.
They didn't need his help, though he would certainly give it
if it was required.
Beside him, Lobo barked excitedly. "You have joined
us," Red Wolf said without turning and waited as the Night
Rider rode up next to him. The masked ghost on the ghost horse
said nothing. 'He's drawing away from humanity,' Will thought,
but did not voice his concerns.
Together they watched, both knowing that the real battle would
come after AIM had left.
to be continued …
MS.
PRINTS
comments to mariner2@tiac.net
NEXT ISSUE: WEIRD ON THE RANGE, PART TWO! Carol joins
the Rangers as they spy on the government installation and
discover part of the shocking secret of just what goes on inside
the facility!
-- Mark …
3.July.1999
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