Dark Avengers: The Patriot List, page 30
part #2 of Marvel Untold Series
I don’t understand, the symbiote mumbled. Why doesn’t he just eat her?
Mac shook his head numbly as Lindy left her husband in his crumpled-up heap and came to put her hand on his shoulder. He felt unexpectedly uplifted that she would touch him without worrying that he would bite her hand off. Even Vicki was scared of him. He wondered if this was what it felt like to be the good guy: to do good things and have people like you.
He could get used to it.
If the symbiote would let him.
If Norman would let him.
Kill Norman Osborn…
“Take me home,” said Lindy.
Epilogue
The guy on the giant composite TV screen looked as though he’d been to the top of the world and was enjoying the view.
“…with considerable pleasure that I can report that the criminal terrorist, Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, a known associate of the wanted fugitive Nick Fury, was apprehended today after a lengthy battle in Kuwait City at approximately nine am local time. There was, regrettably, some material damage and loss of life, but I can assure you that, had it not been for a little luck and the fearless intervention of my Avengers, you would all be reporting on a far greater tragedy this morning.”
The guy smiled: honest, understanding, and open, as he took questions from the floor.
“I’m glad you asked me that, Jennifer, as it allows me to correct a few falsehoods I’ve already seen circulating around the region’s early morning shows. It is, of course, preposterous to hold the Sentry in any way responsible for the destruction of downtown Kuwait City. As the limited footage that survived the incident clearly shows, our very own Ms Marvel and New York’s favorite hero, my friend Spider-Man, can be seen battling a shadowy behemoth that, I think you’ll agree, bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Golden Guardian of Good we all know and love. I have preliminary information from H.A.M.M.E.R.’s paranormal investigators that positively identifies the villain in question as the Black Raazer, a long-time anti-American agitator and senior subordinate of Ms Allegra. Raazer is believed to have been responsible for the attack on New York a week ago, as well as the mental injuries suffered by Spider-Man and the resulting incident in Avengers Tower that some of you will have heard about already. Raazer is, I’m afraid to say, still at large. However, I am very hopeful that the Contessa and another of her associates now in H.A.M.M.E.R. custody, Navid Hashim, AKA the Arabian Knight, will prove cooperative under questioning to prevent similar attacks on our way of life in the future.”
His tanned skin gleamed under the relentless camera-flash of the world’s media.
“We’re also looking into possible collusion within the US government, military, and in other world governments in a plot, instigated by Ms Allegra, to depose me from my democratically mandated role as director of H.A.M.M.E.R.: a coup d’etat that would not only be illegitimate and immoral, but un-American.”
He grasped the wings of the lectern and looked straight into the camera, awfully, painfully sincere.
“Now, as everyone watching this will know, because I have never made any secret of my condition, I have suffered with mental illness for most of my life. It is something for which I have sought help and for which I continue to be treated and I think, as I’m sure most decent people out there will think, that it is shameful for a publicly funded state broadcaster to exploit stolen footage of a private breakdown for commercial or political gain.”
He nodded, as though worn down by his confession, as further questions were called.
“All possible sanctions against the British government and the BBC are being considered at this time. As I’m sure you know, Brandon, H.A.M.M.E.R.’s authority, and therefore my authority, extends into every national jurisdiction on this planet…”
Norman Osborn picked up the remote off his desk and pointed it at the giant bank of screens. He hit pause, wound it back, and played again.
“…every national jurisdiction on this planet…”
Grinning, he scraped the half-dozen differently colored tablets that Karla and Victoria had insisted he start taking in concert with an aggressive period of talking therapy into his hand. He swallowed them with five hundred dollars’ worth of Macallan whiskey from a chipped mug, then set the mug down on the desk alongside the TV remote. The goblinoid face painted across the mug’s side leered up at him from beneath the childishly drawn characters “WORLDS GRATEST DAD”. The message made him smile, although he had no idea which of his children it had come from, or how it had got into his office, even as something in his green-faced cartoon likeness made him cringe away and turn instead towards his transcendent avatar on the world’s screens.
There, he was the hero. There, he was whoever he said he was.
“…so, unless you’re completely sick of hearing my voice, I’ll take a few more questions…”
The guy laughed, and the world laughed with him.
“Great to be that guy,” he told the face on the mug.
But the Goblin didn’t answer.
He just laughed.
About the Author
DAVID GUYMER is a scientist and writer from England. His work includes many novels in the New York Times-bestselling Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes, notably Headtaker and Gotrek & Felix: Slayer, and the bestselling audio drama Realmslayer. He has also contributed to fantastical worlds in video games, tabletop RPGs, and board games.
bobinwood.wixsite.com/thirteenthbell
twitter.com/warlordguymer
Table of Contents
Cover
The Dark Avengers In: The Patriot List
Copyright
The Dark Avengers
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Epilogue
About the Author
X-Men Mutant Insurrection
World Expanding Fiction
David Guymer, Dark Avengers: The Patriot List
