In Manhattan’s Chelsea area, near the meatpacking district twenty blocks from Hell’s Kitchen, the man known as Maverick stands silently upon a rooftop. Being sick with the Legacy Virus has kept him from work for over a year and, in that time, he lost touch with many contacts and got rid of many safe houses. Back then, he didn’t think he would need the safe houses anymore. Most of his money went to medicine and the rest to food and shelter. A lack of money was never a problem. However, now that he is healthy, he needs some cash fast and he cannot keep on having Elena use her telepathy to get them free rooms at hotels. Since his cash reserves are tapped, it is about time he called in some old markers.
Maverick looks down into the streets, as a car pulls up in front of two men. Two more men emerge from the car, as one of the men already present asks Donner if he as the action, because they have the cash. Maverick leaps down from the roof in front of a man with an open briefcase full of cocaine. He punches the cocaine, ripping the bags and spilling the coke everywhere. The other three men freak out and realize that Maverick must be a mutant. One comments on how Big Louie isn’t going to like this mess. One of the men tells Maverick that he just signed his death warrant, since he just destroyed a quarter of a million dollars in coke.
Twelve Hours Earlier:
Elena sits in her hotel room at the Waldorf-Astoria and looks again on her information regarding Sabretooth. She thinks of how unfortunate it was that X-Factor’s base was declared a biohazard zone and quarantined before she had a chance to check it out. Wondering if the feelers she put out last night had borne fruit, Elena uses her psi-powers to check, but the feelers have turned up nothing. Wherever Sabretooth is, he has done a good job of hiding since he left Fall’s Edge, Virginia. However, Elena refuses to give up and assures herself that Sabretooth will slip up soon enough.
Maverick, fresh from the shower and sporting a bathrobe, comes out and greets Elena. The two kiss and Maverick asks her what she was doing, as she seemed preoccupied when he walked in. Does she have leads on Pushkin? Elena tells him that Pushkin wasn’t what she was working on. Maverick picks up a paper and is angry to learn that Elena is still planning on going after Creed. He thought she laid that vendetta to rest.
What gave him that idea, Elena asks. She only postponed her search because he was ill and she didn’t want him to die like an animal in the hotel room she found him in. Now that he is getting better, she has resumed her search. Didn’t he get through to her last time, Maverick asks her. Creed is a psychopath, who maims and mutilates people for fun. She shouldn’t go after him unless she has a death wish. Elena tells him not to lecture her on how deranged Creed is. He murdered her pregnant mother, just to spite her father. Creed blew her mother away when Elena was still in her womb. She knows just how sick and twisted Sabretooth is and when she finds him he will pay with his life.
That’s easier said than done, remarks Maverick. Elena approaches Maverick and tells him that she isn’t stupid. He is under no obligation to help her, as this is her score to settle. However, she has to know one thing. When the time comes, will he help her out? Annoyed, Maverick asks her what kind of help she needs; to dig her grave? Suddenly, Maverick stops in his tracks and grabs Elena. Did she seduce him last night to coerce him into helping her against Creed? Elena looks at Maverick bewildered and then slaps him squarely in the face.
Present:
Maverick enters a bar, where one of two bartenders asks him what he would like this evening. Maverick asks the new bartender what they have on the way of hefe-weizen beers. The young man has no clue what Maverick is talking about, but the other bartender explains that a hefe-weizen beer is German for a particular style of beer that is served in a stein, but has to be poured in a special way. What is special about it, the other bartender asks. The more experienced man explains that it has something to do with how the sediment collects at the bottom.
The man grabs a bottle and hands it to Maverick, who is disappointed at the brand, but nonetheless accepts the drink. Nearby, a rather large figure tells the three to be quiet, because he paid good money to hear the song on the jukebox. Maverick turns to see Fred J. Dukes, a.k.a. the Blob. What are the odds that he would step in a bar serving the Blob? There goes Maverick’s quiet evening. At least the Juggernaut wasn’t here.
Blob, not knowing when to keep his mouth shut, asks Maverick why he wants a special German beer. Is he a Nazi? Angry, Maverick tells Blob not to call him that. Why not, questions the Blob. He has the accent; is he ashamed of his heritage? Again, Maverick tells him to shut up. Blob laughs, as he puffs on his cigar and asks if he struck a nerve on the Nazi-boy. Maverick slams one fist on the table and breaks Blob’s cigar in half with the other. Angry, Blob tells Maverick that no one insults him to his face and lives to tell the tale. The bartender pulls out a shotgun and tells the men that he doesn’t want trouble, so if they want to fight they should go elsewhere. Why don’t they take it outside then, Blob says, as he bats away Maverick with one hand, which sends the man crashing through the front window and onto the street.
Twelve Hours Earlier:
Elena slaps Maverick across the face and he suddenly realized that he asked a stupid question. Maverick admits that he deserved it and Elena wholeheartedly agrees. Maverick tells her to pardon is suspicious nature but, under the circumstances, can she blame him? Why doesn’t she cut him some slack? Knowing his history, says Elena, she will let this slide. How gracious, says Maverick with a smile.
Elena tells him not to be cute. Just because she knows what his mindset is doesn’t make his words hurt any less. She thought they got passed all that garbage. Maverick apologizes, but tells Elena not to think that she has him all figured out. If she knew where he was coming from, then she knows that, as long as Ginetta’s ghost keeps on coming back, he won’t be able to trust anyone ever again. While they are on the subject, it should be no surprise to her that she knows he dislikes the fact that she is running around with so much about his past in her head.
Elena is offended this time and asks if that is why he wants her to give up on Sabretooth. Is he afraid that Creed will find a way to get to Maverick’s dirty secrets through her? Maverick cannot believe that Elena is being so dense and asks if she has forgotten how he told her about Birdy, the last alpha-class telepath who tried to take out Creed. Before being killed by Creed’s father, she was bound by Sabretooth as his personal slave to use her psionic abilities to satiate his private demons. Maverick tells Elena, as he puts on his uniform, that he doesn’t want that to happen to her.
Elena tells Maverick that she is willing to take chances. Maverick explains that he won’t deny her the right to choose, but she may be letting her need to get revenge blind her to the obvious. If she is careless, she will fall into Creed’s hands. Just like how he fell for the machinations of Ivan Pushkin, Elena asks. Maverick tells her that it was a cheap shot, but she explains that she was making a point. Is he trying to tell her that if the opportunity presented itself, would he not go after Pushkin?
His situation is different, replies Maverick. Elena does not believe him and asks how it is. Maverick explains that, while Ivan is lying low now, he will come after them. Creed won’t come for them unless they make a move on him first. Elena gets angry again and tells Maverick that she doesn’t know that for certain. Who is he trying to fool? Ivan exploited Maverick’s Achilles’ heel and Maverick wants the man to pay. Maverick must face the fact that she isn’t the only one here chasing after shadows. Maverick puts on his mask and announces that he needs fresh air, as he gets his trench coat. Elena asks him where he is going, to which Maverick tells her that it is obvious. He is going out. With that, he slams the hotel room door behind him.
Present:
On the street, Maverick recuperates, as all that happened was that he had the wind knocked out of him. The Blob’s blow sent every cell in his body into overdrive and his body feels as if it is on fire with kinetic energy. Maverick tells Blob that he made a big mistake. Blob runs out of the bar and announces that Maverick should shut up and that no fancy costume or powers is going to save him. Maverick is not as sure, as he notices that the Blob is a little tipsy from all the drinks he had. Maverick packs quite a punch, as he hits Blob in the gut. Blob stumbles back against a wall and admits that he was not expecting such an attack but, now that he is anchored, he wants to see what else Maverick has to offer.
Maverick punches him again, but this time his punches are absorbed by the Blob’s blubber. Blob bear hugs Maverick and wonders how he likes it up close and personal. Maverick is disgusted, as he gets a face full of fat. As the Blob smothers him, Maverick gets an idea. Suddenly, Blob feels a burning sensation, which turns to pain. He throws Maverick back and finds two burns the size and shape of Maverick’s hands on his chest. Blob looks at the two burn marks on his chest and Maverick tells Dukes that the trash he is standing in smells better than him.
Blob tells Maverick to shut up, as he charges straight for him. Maverick runs off, leading the Blob away from the bar. The hero realizes that he shouldn’t have egged the mutant on in the first place. What was he thinking? He shouldn’t have let anything the Blob said get to him. Maverick must be more on the edge than he originally thought. Maverick runs into a junkyard and throws an iron he finds at the Blob. Maverick tells Fred that his two-bit career has taken a dip for the worse since his Freedom Force days.
The iron bounces off the Blob’s head, as Dukes tells Maverick that he doesn’t know if he has been given cosmic powers or is a mutant like him, but he is going to pulverize him. Blob punches Maverick, who goes flying into the air. Maverick lands in a pile of scrap metal and reminds himself to be careful next time he wants to recharge. He may be able to absorb kinetic energy, but he can still be impaled or crushed like any other guy. The Blob leaps on top of the scrap heap, but Maverick narrowly jumps away.
Maverick runs off into an abandoned building, as he notices that his whole body is tingling with kinetic energy that needs to burst. He runs up some stairs to higher ground, as he reroutes the energy to his legs and feet. Blob is right after Maverick and tells the man that he cannot hide forever. Calling from a hole in the floor several stories up, Maverick tells the Blob that he is up there, as he jumps down and slams his kinetically charged feet into the Blob. The impact sends Blob several feet into the ground. Blob finds that he is stuck. Maverick takes advantage of the situation and goes to take out Blob with one more kinetic kick but, at the last second, he realizes that his powers have cut out and he has not more stored energy to use.
