Avengers #7

James Bourne, while born here on the shores of the United States renounced his citizenship to any country, believing himself a citizen of the entire planet and one who would fight terrorism at any cost. He was a hero to this world, and it is a darker place with his absence. As a hero he saved the lives of several people in the foreign embassy of West Germany before the collapse of the wall. He ensured the survival of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. He fought to defend Ellis Island. Outside Barcelona, Spain, James defeated the leader of the Cascan separatists.

He worked with heroes here in New York City to help defeat those who would cause chaos and anarchy. James helped bring the Sicilian crime syndicate to justice, as well as helped defended our nation against the likes of the Red Skull. He helped with work against the organization called ARES, and stopped their money laundering operation.

I worked with him personally fighting HYDRA in the early years of the new millennium. James Bourne was not well known like Captain America. He was not charming to the public like Johnny Storm. He was not feared like some vigilantes. He was a man. A man who worked constantly, day and night, to help keep this world a safe place for our kids. He was one of the best damn soldiers I've ever had the honor of working with.


Nick Fury walked away from the podium to sit next to Natasha in one of the varnished, wooden pews of the large Catholic church.

The funeral had many more attendees than Fury or anyone else had expected. Perhaps it was due to the nature of the shooting. Solo had died, giving up his life, to save Captain America from a second assassination attempt. Certain death.

The bullet that had been found and was quickly examined by Tony Stark of S.H.E.I.L.D. and cross-referenced with the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the NYPD in order to see if it could match up to a registered firearm. Stark had bad news for everyone. As it had turned out, there were no markings on the bullet.

The barrel of most firearms contains groves which help stabilize the bullet in flight by imparting a spin. These grooves leave marks on the bullet itself which can be compared with other bullets fired from the same firearm.
In addition, the firing pin on the firearm leaves a "dimple" on the spent primer of the metallic cartridge. This can also be measured and compared to other cartridges from the same firearm. However Tony Stark not only was unable to match this spent round to any registered gun. It had no markings at all. It was as if the bullet had been taken out of a box and never used in a gun.

A magic bullet.

"What do you mean, it was never fired?" Captain America asked Tony Stark as they sat in a lab on the S.H.E.I.L.D. Helicarrier.

Captain America stayed away from the funeral. While he had wished to be there, he knew his presence could possibly endanger more lives since in less than a year, someone had tried to kill him with a bullet.

"Here's the really freaky part," Tony responded holding up two bullets, the one in question, and a different one, "this bullet doesn't have any markings either. It's the one that was extracted from your body when you were shot six months ago."

"What?!" Captain America said in shocked tones, taking the bullet from Tony's hand and inspecting it as if it were difficult to believe it was even real.

"That leads me to to three conclusions. The first is that, whoever this fan of yours is, fired both bullets. Which also means they're still out there and most likely have a third bullet with your name on it. The second conclusions is these bullets were fired from something other than a gun. Which also means they wanted all of us to think they were fired from a gun, even though they weren't."

"And the third conclusion?" Cap asked still looking at the bullet.

"The third conclusion is that we need martinis," Stark responded.

"Yeah," Cap said still staring at the bullet in shock, "I think I could use a drink."


Winter Soldier aimed the sniper rifle.

"Target in sight," he said into his headset.

"Drop them," came the reply.

BLAM! BLAM!

The two dummies fell. Bucky dropped the rifle and ran across the field diving behind a bush.

DEET! DEET DEET!

"Damn it!" Bucky yelled standing up.

"Don't let it bother you. You've been stressed out. Just because the sensors picked you up doesn't mean it would happen in a real life scenario," came the voice over the headset.

"That's exactly what it means, Carol," Bucky responded back to Ms. Marvel through his headset. The fact that Captain America hadn't made Bucky his first choice for his new Avengers team was really getting to Winter Soldier. Add to that the recent death of Solo, who had given his life to save Captain America, left Bucky in a sour mood.

Bucky began the walk from the training field 45 minutes away from Jefferson City, Missouri back to the military base he and Ms. Marvel had gone to for a little exercise. Being an affiliate of the higher-ups in S.H.E.I.L.D. had it's perks. Carol Danvers, also known as Ms. Marvel made the trek to meet him.

"I really don't know what to do with myself," Bucky said as the two met up.

"I do," she responded, "Solo is dead. I'd say there's some avenging that needs doing."

"It is interesting," the shadowed figure said to the others in the room who sat at the large round table, "The atoms of one property are objects that produce fields and attract similar properties. The field's lines of force exit from its north pole and enter its south pole. Permanent or hard properties create their own field all the time. Temporary or softer properties produce fields while in the presence of a separate field and for a short while after exiting the field. The most peculiar part of it all is that these fields are something that I can see. Something that I can smell. I can taste them even."

"I do believe that a third time is the charm, is it not?" Baron Zemo stated as he sat at the table next to Dr. Doom, Loki, Norman Osborn, Viper and Sabretooth.

"Oh, absolutely. Absolutely," Magneto replied holding a bullet.

NEXT ISSUE: Masters of Evil vs. The Avengers!!!

I must confess, I'm a little jealous I never thought of a magnetic magic bullet.

Standing ovation for Craig. I had suspected the Winter Soldier of killing Solo but the Magic Magnetic bullet i never saw coming. I cant wait to see where this goes.