Champions (2016 series) #14

Continued from AVENGERS #673.

In that issue the High Evolutionary changed Viv Vision from a synthezoid to a human girl. We learn now that Viv had suppressed her grief over the death of her 'mother' and 'brother', but HE has unsuppressed it - and Viv bursts into tears.

That was on Counter-Earth. In Mexico on 'real' Earth most of the other Champions (teen Cyclops, Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and teen Spider-Man (Miles Morales)) with Wasp (Nadia Van Dyne) of the Avengers have dealt with all the Ani-Men (all over the world?!) who have crossed over from Counter-Earth. But that's only until the next wave after a 20-minute gap - and each time the invading force is larger.

And that 20 minutes is up already. But this time things and people start to shift *to* Counter-Earth. However Hulk temporarily disrupts the vibrational synchronisation between the Earths by repeatedly stamping the ground very hard, which stops the bleed this time. Wasp can detect no Internet reports of more Ani-Men.

Cyclops and Spider-Man wonder what High Evolutionary's ultimate plan is. An elephant-man they've captured tells them all. We don't hear what he says but it shocks the heroes because they don't see how anyone will survive that on *either* Earth.

Ms Marvel says they've got to get to Counter-Earth to stop the Evolutionary. Science-whizzes Hulk and Wasp get equipment from the team's jet and start studying the elephant-man to determine the vibrational frequency of C-Earth, intending to create a device to use the next bleed to invade the other planet.

Back on C-E the HE is killing time before the 'Ascension' by overseeing the change of captive Falcon's artificial wings into real ones. He leaves the lab for his throneroom where he is assaulted by Avengers Hercules, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Thor (Jane Foster) and Vision plus Champion Nova (Sam Alexander). HE's most faithful Ani-Men defend their lord.

Thor tells Vision to go find his 'daughter' Viv and Falcon, but newly-human Viv shows up here. Vizh angrily grabs Herbert Wyndham but HE advises him to find Falcon quickly for his teammate's sake. He gives him directions and Vision flies off carrying Viv.

Evolutionary is able to slip away. But only to be hit by Kamala Khan's enlarged fist as the other team arrive.

Vision rescues Falcon who still has fake wings and says HE's scientists hadn't got very far. Sam Wilson leaves to join the fight, and Vizh and Viv have a moment together. She says the Evolutionary 'evolved' her into a human and now she has none of her synthezoid abilities, including a computer mind. Her 'father' tells her to stay safe here while *he* returns to the fray. But when he ghosts away through the floor Viv runs off to help her friends.

The 2 main groups have combined their attacks. But Wyndham unleashes devolution radiation which he says will turn them into apes. They run away from the expanding wavefront as it de-evolves HE's Ani-Men, and are joined by Falc and Vizh. But it's catching up with them so Nova turns and emits a counter-radiation which cancels the problem out - he wasn't sure it would work.

Ms Marvel now tells the other group what the elephant-man told *them*. The immortal Evolutionary doesn't aim to *merge* the 2 worlds as they thought. He intends to smash them together, destroying both! It will take millions of years but the debris will coalesce into 1 bigger planet - suitable for him to use as his own laboratory.

When they've got over the shock Amadeus Cho and Nadia Van Dyne say they think they may have a solution. High Evolutionary created Counter-Earth, so they think the solution may lie in his control room.

Herbert Wyndham is activating a teleporter as his escape route, but our heroes keep him from entering it. MsM says HE created C-E out of phase with Earth so it would be indetectable. But now he's been bringing our Earth into vibrational alignment with it. All they need to do is get him to use the machinery which originally set C-E's frequency to change *that* to a different 1, and then the Earths can't collide.

But High E desperately lunges free of their combined grasp, saying "Never! Never again! I will not face Him -- and neither will you!" Several heroes blast him as he reaches the teleporter and he falls in to it's beam with a scream.

Without Evolutionary they don't know how to stop the merging of vibrationary frequencies, and in a few more passes the worlds will collide. Slow human Viv arrives at last and says she remembers details of a map of the citadel. There's something big underground and she knows how to get there.

Vision tells his daughter he's proud of her, but asks her this time to *really* stay behind. The Chavengers figure that the 'Him' HE was afraid of is down there, which is why High E didn't just use the machine to change C-E's frequency to match Earth's, instead of his more elaborate plan to alter Earth's frequency. But they all rush off to face that danger anyway.

To be continued in AVENGERS #674.