Synopsis
Avengers, The (1963 series) #402 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
It's the middle of Onslaught's attack on Manhattan, and an EMP has killed power all over the city. A subway train is stuck between stations until Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Thor and Wasp arrive to help them. Wasp flies ahead to check the way is clear. Thor's hammer provides power to the 3rd rail, and his muscles get the train moving. (Cap and ScW just hitch a ride.) When they approach a station Thor switches ends to bring the train to a halt. Wasp's bionic blast opens the train's doors, and then Cap and Wanda Maximoff lead an orderly rush to the surface ... where things are hardly better.
The Avengers split up. Thor and Wasp fly down civilians trapped in a Roosevelt Island Tramway cable car. Cap and the Witch free people trapped in a lift(?). But they can't stop the rising panic. Black Widow is surrounded by people begging for help, until the other Avengers extricate her. But then she goes her own way and our 4 go theirs. (We learn that Crystal, Hawkeye and Vision are with Hulk and others in his #445 making a frontal assault on Onslaught, while Giant-Man, Iron Man and Quicksilver are developing psi-shielding in IM#332 to protect the heroes from Onslaught's psionic force.)
Even Steve Rogers seems to have lost hope.
Then GM, IM and Pietro Maximoff join them with the promised psionic shield devices. But they are attacked by Holocaust and a cloaked Post, sent by Onslaught to confiscate the shields. There follows a game of pass the parcel as the team try to keep the shields out of the villains' hands. Cap still seems mired in despair but he's just thinking. He throws his shield at Post, hitting the button that turns his cloaking device on. The shield then rebounds to hit Holocaust, drawing his attention. Holocaust fires at Cap but hits the invisible Post, bringing him down. Then everyone piles on Holocaust until he's defeated.
The civilian crowd goes wild with hope, but an image of Onslaught tells the Avengers they haven't really won anything. The team don the psi-shields and head off to attack him.
Characters:
Plus: Holocaust, Onslaught, Post.