HEROES FOR HIRE

by Gregory Hernandez

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ISSUE #2: The Day It Rained Fire!

PART ONE: THREE MEN

PETER PARKER

"What are you going to do?"

The heroes had returned. Perhaps no one knew that better Peter Parker. One of the returned heroes, Ben Grimm, AKA the Thing, had shown up at his doorstep.

So much had changed in the last couple of months for Peter. First, exposure to multiple spider bites had resulted in his body mutating into some man-spider hybrid, next, as a result of a cure at the hands of Dr. Henry Pym, his metabolism had become rebooted - he was now completely normal, and completely powerless. He still wasn't sure how he felt about that. Unlike many of the other marvels, he hadn't felt that his condition was a curse. Sure, he had problems, but they weren't a result of the spider bite which had altered his metabolism. The thing was, he hadn't really had an opportunity to get used to his newfound condition. He'd been set upon by Batman, attacked by Iron Fist and finally had his (former) masked identity splashed across the front pages of all the papers in the United States, and probably the world. If it hadn't been for the fact that he had been tested as completely baseline normal (and that someone else had taken over the Spider-Man identity), he would still be dealing with the problems that had caused. And before he could even recover from all of that, Ben had shown up on his doorstep with one hell of a story .

It was like something out of a Twilight Zone script. He had expected Rod Serling to come down from the second floor of the house and chime in while Ben was speaking. "What if?" Rod would begin, in the ironic voice of his. "What if you went away on a mission that was arguably the hardest of your career, that had changed the lives of two of your best friends forever, and had taken the life of another? What if you returned from that mission, looking forward to some rest and a time to get your life together - what if the world you returned to Was Not Your Own?"

What if, indeed?

Peter wasn't sure WHAT to think. On the one hand, Ben had obviously been through a lot of stress. On the other hand, he didn't seem to have any of the other symptoms of a nervous breakdown or a psychotic break. Heck, the two of them had gone to see Doctor Strange, and the mage supreme had found nothing wrong with Ben. Neither had Doc Samson, who was a trained psychologist.

About the only option left to Peter was to believe Ben's story, and he wasn't sure he was quite ready to do that.

But that was how he wound up with a big pile of depressed orange rocks sitting on his living room sofa.

Anything had to be better than that.

"So, what are you going to do now, Ben?" Peter Parker repeated.

"I don't know, Pete," Ben answered. "With Reed and Sue gone and Johnny dead, I don't know what I'm going to do." Ben said grumpily. "How about you, Pete? What are ya gonna do? I don't see you going out there snapping any pics lately."

Peter Parker agreed with him. "That's true," he said. "It's not like I haven't been getting offers - and for more money than they're willing to pay me at the Bugle… but now I've become some sort of celebrity. I can't take my pictures in the low-key way that I've been used to anymore. It's like I'm caught up in Andy Warhol's fifteen minutes of fame. I wish it'd hurry up and burn itself out, already." And, he had to admit, he wasn't sure if he wanted to keep being a photographer anymore. He heard the doorbell rang. When he had the superhero thing going, that was the point of his life - now, he wasn't sure that he wanted photography to be at the center of his days. Or if so, whether being a freelance photography was it. Did he want to become a hard-hitting photojournalist, or maybe change entirely and go for fashion shots? Did he really want to become a paparazzo? The doorbell rang again.

"You want me to get it?" Ben asked.

"Nah, I'll do it." Even though much of the furor had died down, there were still occasional annoyances, of people wanting to talk to the man who was Spider-Man for a day. They were kids mostly, or thrill-seekers, tourists. There were still people who parked in front of his Forest Hills home and waited to see if they spotted Pete crawling out the window in full Spider-Man costume, off to save some damsel in distress or fight some bad guy. They normally left after they heard some news report stating that Spider-Man was across town doing what-have-you while Peter was pretty obviously at home doing not-so-much.

Still, as the doorbell rang a third time and he answered that he was coming, Peter Parker realized that almost any company recently made him anxious. Except for Ben. He just made Peter depressed.

Peter thought he recognized the silhouette as he opened the door. What is HE doing here? Pete wondered.

Peter Parker might have expected anything from a paparazzo to some costumed acquaintance from his fast-receding former life, but he wasn't expecting the energy blast that shattered the door and struck him in the chest.

"Peter!" Ben Grimm's voice thundered.

Luckily the wood of the door had absorbed most of the blast and nothing seemed broken. He was bleeding, but only superficially. Or maybe he was in shock. He thought he might be in shock. He felt detached, almost bemused by everything. Dimly, he felt his body begin shivering as if it was winter and not the height of summer.

"Iron Fist?" Pete croaked before he passed out. What was going on?

DANIEL RAND

The voices of the reporters in the press conference were so loud they threatened to overwhelm the intended speaker.

One reported shouted out above the rest. "Mister Rand, is it true that you intend to sell off your holdings in Rand-Meachum?"

"Some even have it that you've done so already."

Daniel Rand spoke calmly, evenly, but with enough force to silence the crowd. "I have simply decided to give up my seat on the board of directors of the company," he answered. "It would not be in my or the corporations interest to flood the market with Rand-Meachum stock." He flashed what had come to be known in a relatively short time as The Million Dollar Smile at the reporters. "Believe it or not, even though I've only recently come back from the Far East, I intend to do a lot more traveling. I don't want the board to have to wait for me to make any decisions they may need to do - and I won't be traveling with a cell phone, pager or laptop," he added, smiling again, implying he would be going on an extended tryst. Some looked of the reporters smirked, others looked disapproving. The truth of the matter was that even though he had controlling interest in one of the world's great corporations, it did not make him a businessman. Nor was he interested in becoming one.

For the past twenty years - most of his life - he had been consumed by one thing, and that was vengeance. When he confronted Meachum, the man who had killed his father and taken over his company, that purpose was over. He was left dissatisfied. Meachum had committed suicide rather than face Danny, who had spent the intervening decades honing his body into the living weapon known as Iron Fist. Now Danny Rand had to take over his existence from the ghosts of the past and decide what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. The first step was to return to the mythical city of K'Un Lun, where he had received his training.

Needless to say, K'Un Lun was not a place that was accessible to cell phones or was internet-ready.

First he had to divest himself of his financial ties to Rand-Meachum. Then he had to see some of his newfound friends and bid them goodbye.

He had just made it over the 57th Street Bridge to Queens when he heard the first sirens. The closer he got to his destination, the more the alarums were ringing out. When he saw the smoke drifting overhead, the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach got worse. Finally, he turned a corner, saw the crowds and the police, heard the sounds of a raging battle, and his concern was confirmed. Peter Parker's block looked like a war zone, with Peter's house suffering the brunt of the devastation.

Daniel Rand double parked his automobile, got out and prepared to join the fray.

BEN GRIMM

At first, Ben Grimm thought it was Iron Fist at the door. The attacker's outfit and stance was similar to what he had seen of the K'Un Lun Kid's. He'd barely enough time to register it, however. The attack came as suddenly as it was brutal. Grimm had initially pulled his punches, even though Peter Parker had been wounded and knocked out by the invader's assault. As he became aware of the raw power of this new enemy, he felt it better to try and get the fight over with as quickly as possible. It was easier said then done. The man was taller than he was, broader, and stronger than it would have seemed possible. Ben Grimm had fought alongside Iron Fist before, and if anything, this new foe was even more skilled than his former ally. And he had a substantial bag of tricks he'd never seen Danny Rand employ.

When the cops had come on the scene, the man in the blue and white costume had belched a sheet of flame at them that had ignited several of the cop cars and caused two of the four arrivals to explode. Now the vehicles were staying well out of range. He had then set the house on fire. Ben's first thought was to rescue Peter. He had the feeling that whatever he wanted, it had something to do with Parker. Sure enough, as he darted into the flames, the new foe followed suit. Fire engines and paramedics were on the scene. Ben had to get Peter to them. As he expected, martial arts giant was going to make it easy. He exited through the rear door, set Peter on the ground out of the range of the falling debris, and confronted their attacker.

Several minutes of fighting later, Ben Grimm was getting the distinct impression that the giant was toying with him.

"Okay, Too-Tall," Grimm said. "Let's get this over with. No more waltzing around. Let's see what ya really got."

"Indeed," his opponent said, with a smirk. "Let's stop dancing."

Ben Grimm threw a powerhouse punch that would have knocked out the Sphinx. The big man sidestepped easily, as if the Thing was moving in slow motion. He grabbed Ben's wrist and bicep. Before he could bring the arm down and break it at the elbow, the Thing desperately threw a punch from underneath which landed on his opponent's midsection. This produced several results: first, his opponent released his arm; second, that annoying grin was now wiped off his face; third, he now looked deadly serious, no more pussyfooting around.

Uh oh, Ben thought. I hope my life insurance is paid up.

1 From the Positive Zone Earth. See the "Our Omniverse At War" miniseries and tie-ins. (back)
2 Last issue. (back)
3 Whew! That was one heckuva summary. Basically all the events took place between issues 1-7 of World's Finest Tales Of Suspense, and the previous issues of Heroes For Hire. (back)