2nd story:
X-23, Thunderstrike, Arana, Amadeus Cho and Power Man find thesmelves stranded in the middle of nowhere. X-23 a.k.a. Laura Kinney sniffs the air, while Amadeus Cho narrows his eyes. Anya Corazon a.k.a. Spider-Girl looks confused, as does Victor Alvarez a.k.a. Power Man, while Kevin Masterson a.k.a. Thunderstrike calls out 'Just one question: which one of you brats is getting smashed for dragging me here?' as he holds his hammer at the ready. The others turn to face him, as they stand on some sort of platform with an Asgardian symbol on it, surrounded by water, which laps up at the platform. 'Wherever... uh... wherever “here” is' Kevin adds.
Amadeus Cho checks an electronic device and reports that they are forty-seven degrees nine minutes south, a hundred and twenty-six degrees west, to be precise. 'So... the middle of the Pacific – one of the bigger patches of empty ocean on Earth, in fact' Amadeus adds. 'How you know that, short round? You the one who zapped us here?' Kevin asks aggressively.
Holding his golden mace, Amadeus Cho explains that it is called geo-positioning, via his company's satellites. 'I'll zap the specs back to you in caveman times when racism was cool -' Amadeus begins as he and Kevin glare at each other. 'You call that a mace? Now this is a mace!’ Thunderstrike boasts, ‘forged of Uru metal, in mighty Asgard, just like Thor's hammer -' Thunderstrike begins, but Amadeus laughs and interrupts him: 'Haw! Note the unbreakable adamantine metal? Maker's mark of Hephaestus, god of smiths? That's fine Olympian craftsman ship -', but Thunderstrike interrupts him: 'Waaaait...I know you. You used to be Hercules' boyfriend'. 'Hey! The technical term is “adventuring companion”!' Amadeus corrects him.
Spider-Girl turns to X-23, and remarks that they are comparing mace sizes, which is typical alpha boy behavior. X-23 continues to sniff the air and replies 'Yes, because they are using their mace sizes as a stand-in for their -' Spider-Girl interrupts her. 'Yeah, thanks. I get my own joke'. The girls turn their backs to each other, and Spider-Girl asks X-23 where she dropped in from – Mars?
Power Man steps between Thunderstrike and Amadeus: 'Look, I'm not really used to being the non-hotheaded one – hope 'Fist never catches wind of this, or I'll never hear the end of it – but can y'all just chill? Don't know if you noticed but a buncha cyber-Nazis and muscleheads with hammers are sending the whole world up in flames!' He tells the others that they should be figuring out how to get back into that fight instead of picking ones amongst themselves.
Raising his hammer to Power Man, Thunderstrike tells him that as the unarmed one, it might be smart if he just butts out. But Power Man slams a fist into Thunderstrike – a thunder-ran smashing block, to be precise. Then he kicks him with a kioh-lung tornado dragon kick. 'OOFF!' Thunderstrike exclaims as he falls to the ground. 'My sifu is the Immortal Iron Fist, “kid”. I am my weapon' Power Man explains.
'Hey!' Spider-Girl calls out. 'Stop and just think for a second, will you?' she asks, firing some webbing at Power Man, wrapping it around his arms and chest. 'Why are you snaggering me? I was trying to stop them from fighting!' he points out. 'Haw!' Amadeus laughs. 'Aw' he mutters, as he finds himself trapped in some webbing, too. 'Focus!' Spider-Girl shouts, asking the others what the last thing they remember is.
Spider-Girl informs the others that she was chasing down looters in Midtown Manhattan, while Thor fought with what the Hulk and Thing turned into, then suddenly, she was here. 'Any of you remember how you got here?' Spider-Girl asks.
X-23 pops her claws as she announces that she was evacuating the people of San Francisco with the X-Men, and would prefer nothing more than to return to her comrades. She adds that she doesn't know why they are here, but that she knows they are not alone. 'But what is here is not human... and perhaps not even... of this Earth' X-23 adds, looking up to the Asgardian symbol on the structure they are on.
Thunderstrike shakes his hammer at X-23 and asks her how she knows that. 'Do you have psychic powers to go along with your attitude, Wolverette? Or maybe you're with the ones who brought us here' he suggests. 'You must forgive me. I am unaccustomed to humor. I cannot tell if you are joking...' X-23 replies. 'Y'see, that's the thing with you X-people. You're always whining about how oppressed you are...' Thunderstrike begins. 'Hmmm....' Amadeus remarks. '...while simultaneously thinking you're better than everyone else – hey!' Thunderstrike exclaims as Amadeus's mace knocks against Thunderstrike's, forcing him to slam his mace into the platform, which creates a surge of lightning, and reverts Thunderstrike to his civilian guise.
'Hahaha! Dig those jimmie-jams!' Amadeus laughs. 'What were you doing right before you got snatched, Blunderstrike? Hiding under your bed at your Mom's house in the Hamptons?' Amadeus asks. 'Why...you...' Kevin begins, while Amadeus tells him 'And before you ask! Yes, I am the smart kid!'
'You're gonna be the dead kid! 'Cause I don't need to hit this thing on the ground to change back!' Kevin exclaims as he smacks his stick over Amadeus's head, changing him back into his Thunderstrike guise. Thunderstrike then grabs Amadeus by his neck and asks him how he knows his stepdad has a house in the Hamptons. 'You spying on mye perv?' Amadeus raises his mace to fight back, while Spider-Girl drops down between them. 'Here we go again!' she mutters, before turning to X-23 and, calling her “Feral Princess”, asks her for a little help. 'Why? As you said, they engage in perfectly normal alpha male behavior' X-23 points out.
Suddenly, there is a scream, and X-23, Spider-Girl, Thunderstrike and Amadeus turn to see Power Man has fallen to the ground. 'Whoa! You...you okay, kid?' someone calls out as green energy glows around him. 'He called himself “Power Man”' one of the others points out. 'I'm not calling him “Man”, he looks barely old enough to have a learner's permit' one of the others remarks.
Spider-Girl helps Power Man to stand up, who explains that he tried to use his ability to absorb the ambient chi, the life force of his environment and “power up” - but there is no life to the force here. 'Yes – my senses detect the same thing' X-23 confirms.
Power Man informs the others that there is a message in the bioelectric frequency – repeated over and over again in a language he has never heard before. He repeats that message, and suddenly, there is a rumbling noise. 'We will translate for you, hatchlings' a voice announces. 'This isn't normal, is it?' Thunderstrike asks, as the platform they are standing on starts to rise up out of the water – it is some sort of large vessel.
A voice translates the message: 'In their dread house the warriors of the king of darkness wait dreaming'. The voice declares that the stars are right, they will rise with the king – 'And make you our first sacrifice to him!' the voice shouts.
The young heroes ready themselves, as armored shark men appear on the ship and rush towards the heroes as X-23 declares 'You were mistaken. We have not been taken from our battles... the war has been brought to us!'
