Michael O'Brien; the original Guardsman was being deliberately kept in the dark about things that had happened after his death. He was falsely told that the other Guardsman had become a terrorist organization that was intent on defaming him.

Angry about that, Michael O'Brien was putty in Madame Masque's hands.

Piledriver was happy to be reunited with Bulldozer and Thunderball. What a great reunion! The Wrecking Crew were almost together again. All they needed was the Wrecker!

Day 49: Noon; in a replicated Republic of Markovia in an alternate reality

Isaac Christians; Gargoyle, was being held prisoner by Yandroth, the old Defenders villain.

Yandroth had him in some kind of geis and was using him as a familiar to conjure a spell. As Gargoyle stood by helplessly a rift in reality appeared enveloping him and disrupted Yandroth's spell.

Christopher Powell; Darkhawk, was trying to step up to fill the void of the many missing heroes. He was on the trail of the Sandman who'd become very bold in the absence of Spiderman and the Fantastic Four.

He was closing in, when he was was engulfed by a rift in reality.

Nathaniel Richards; the younger version that had become part of the Young Avengers in a divergent reality for Kang, was intent on fulfilling his destiny. He attempted some time travel and found himself diverted from his original intent.

Arthur Parks; the Living Laser, was bewildered. Where was he? How'd he get here? It seemed like he was in the middle of nowhere.

Parks was not sure what to do. He waited, feeling conflicted and bewildered until three rifts in reality appeared and three heroes appeared, two he was unfamiliar with but the third reminded him of Iron Man, which sent him into a rage.

Iron Lad, Darkhawk and the Gargoyle appeared at the same time.

Gargoyle was trying to collect his wits after being released from Yandroth's thralldom.

Iron Lad was shocked that he had not appeared where he meant to be in his time travelling and was surprised to find himself back in his Iron Lad armor.

Darkhawk was unfamiliar with either Gargoyle or Iron Lad and assumed wrongly that Gargoyle was responsible for his kidnapping. He immediately attacked Gargoyle.

The Living Laser saw Iron Lad and immediately mistook him for Iron Man and reacted accordingly as Parks blamed Iron Man for all his problems. The Living Laser lashed out at an unguarded Iron Lad and obliterated his head.

Iron Lad had removed his helmet in astonishment that he was in the armor and was trying to reason why. He hadn't even noticed the Living Laser when he arrived, he was so astonished at being redirected from his original goal.

It proved to be fatal.

Darkhawk and Gargoyle were locked in a vicious battle because Darkhawk assumed that Gargoyle; because of his appearance was the threat.

Gargoyle was desperately trying to defend himself and neither noticed the death of Iron Lad at the hands of the Living Laser.

The Living Laser; after successfully murdering Iron Lad, who he mistook for Iron Man, flew off at the speed of light.

Right about that time, Wiccan returned with the Thin Man.

Wiccan saw the dead body of Iron Lad and nearly had a coronary.

What had happened? All Wiccan could see was Darkhawk battling Gargoyle and assumed that Gargoyle must be the culprit. He joined Darkhawk in assaulting Gargoyle and soon Gargoyle was unconscious at Darkhawk's feet.

The Thin Man was thinking that Wiccan may have made a mistake as he knew who Gargoyle was, thanks to Jim Hammond's intel but he couldn't be sure so he kept his mouth shut.

Darkhawk thanked Wiccan for the help and then noticed the dead body of Iron Lad.

"What happened there?"

Wiccan looked at him incredulously. "Don't you know?"

"No I do not. I was fighting that Gargoyle creature there and didn't see anything."

"Do you mean to say, that Gargoyle didn't kill him?"

"No! He couldn't have, he was fighting me because I assumed he was behind our kidnapping."

Thin Man broke in. "That's great kid. You flew off half cocked without checking the facts and now this other kid is dead. Do you two know that the Gargoyle is a superhero like you two are supposed to be? What motive would he have for killing your friend? The Gargoyle probably didn't even know him."

Wiccan's heart sank. He had seen Darkhawk fighting the Gargoyle and assumed there was a good reason for it. Darkhawk's heart sank. He realized that he too had merely assumed without getting the facts.

Now that he thought about it, there had been someone else there. Someone he didn't pay much attention to because he was so certain that the Gargoyle must be the problem because he appeared evil in Darkhawk's eyes. A serious rookie mistake.

Wiccan was just grateful he hadn't killed Gargoyle for the death of his friend.

Once they realized that they had made a huge mistake, Wiccan cast a spell to revive Gargoyle.

He then transported everyone except Thin Man. including Iron Lad's body, back to the facility to meet with Nick Fury, Sarge Steel and Cameron Chase.

After he dropped them off, he immediately returned before Fury and the rest could protest.

Patriot and the Blazing Skull were locked up and their presence was reported to Terra who was thoroughly enjoying the torture of Clint Barton at the moment.

Slightly irritated, she ordered the torture to be temporarily halted while she went to inspect the new arrivals.

When Lionheart came to, she woke up to an intense grilling from both Dr. Doom and Kang.

They soon deduced that she had appeared nearby, either Symkaria or Markovia.

Since Markovia was from the DC universe, Doom correctly deduced that new arrivals from the Marvel universe were appearing there and decided to watch and see what he could exploit.

Doom and Kang went to Markovia to learn what they could take advantage of.

After Patriot and the Blazing Skull were driven away by the Markovian police, Crossbones decided to go back for the tractor and hotwire it.

He then cruised along until he was passed by a few Markovian motorists.

They looked at him on the tractor and called the police.

Eventually Markovian police came to investigate. They pulled up next to the tractor and ordered him to stop. Crossbones complied. Crossbones got off the tractor and put his hands up in surrender.

One of the Markovian policeman ran up to handcuff him. As soon as the cop got close he took out his handcuffs. In one fluid motion Crossbones snapped the cops neck, took his weapon and shot his partner.

Just like that, Crossbones had access to a Markovian cop car,