The Avengers enter the warehouse

An Avenger's Quinjet is one of the most conspicuous and well know aircraft in the world, yet on this sunny morning, no one seemed to notice its landing on the old wharf. That fact in itself told one something about this area. To say this part of the harbor had seen better days would be a gross understatement. The facility was run down 30 years ago and has been derelict for at least 10 years. Very few people ever came here and those that did were up to no good.

On the street outside the warehouse where the sword projectile had originated, 7 heroes took in the scene. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Proton, Ms Marvel, and Sersi appeared to be waiting for something, but they didn't have to wait long. They soon knew their wait was over when the high-pitched whistle of supersonic motion alerted the group to the approach of the eighth member of their tea. Moving so fast it appeared that he simply popped into existence in front of them, Pietro Maximoff gave his report to his team leader. "There isn't anyone here, Cap. I checked the warehouse and all the buildings along side it. There were no people and no signs of traps."

Cap shook his head as he thought out the options. "Well, it could have been that the sword did not fly as straight as we had hoped. Maybe it didn’t come from here."

Pietro quickly responded "Oh, no Cap. There is no doubt about it, the sword started out here. Besides the hole in the roof, there is another sword just like it in the center of the warehouse.

Captain America gave his team a go ahead. While Cap, Iron Man, and Sersi entered the building, the others secured to outside to make sure neither no one pulled a surprise attack nor that anyone who might have been hiding in the building escaped. Before long the 3 heroes were standing before the object of their curiosity. Iron Man scanned the sheathed sword with all his technology while Cap inspected for booby traps and Sersi looked to see if this were a power object that her ancient people might have knowledge of. In a few minutes it became apparent that neither the Eternal not the armored Avenger was having any luck. Iron Man shared his results with his comrades "I get the same readings that I got off the other sword. Nothing appears out of the ordinary, but this blade is an exact duplicate even down to the exact weight with one exception. The other sword had a target symbol on the hilt and this one has no symbol."

Sersi, never one of the more patient heroines, growled "This is ridiculous! We are learning nothing from this inert piece of metal this way." She grabbed the sword up and before her colleagues could protest announced "We must at least get a good look at the sword." Strong feminine hands deftly withdrew the beautiful swords in one quick motion and the world came crashing down on the heroes. Suddenly, soul searing hopelessness spread like a flash flood from the sword. Not even the strong-willed Captain America could resist the tidal wave of despair. There was no point of living, thinking, even breathing. Even agony would have been a blessing compared to way this sword emptied their souls of any other feeling. The **** was not just confined to the warehouse either. As the 3 heroes in the building fell into fetal positions, the unseen malignant **** spread out like a blister for over 100 meters. If this had been a more populated part of the hundreds of people would have been trapped in the hellish effect, but as it was, only 8 souls were lost to it. Many of the Avengers present had near godlike power, but it did not help them against mystic ****. Thor had managed to raise his hammer to try to get some distance, but even he was overcome before he could escape. Within a minute, the entire team were lost to the power of Soulcrusher, the Tyrant's Sword

*****

From his lair, Diablo laughed at the flawless execution of his plans. In a sadistic orgy of ****, the former Invisible Woman slew 2 of her team mates and left her own husband a helpless drooling lump trapped by electricity as his best friend was dissected. Now the Avengers were little more than vegetables. "Delightful," the evil magician chortled.

With a wave and an incantation he opened a portal to his favorite ****. Susan smiled viciously as she sheathed Stonecutter and retrieved Coinspinner from her brother's lifeless corpse. Once through the portal, she ran into the arms of the man she thought was her soul mate. Diablo took the intoxicating vixen into his embrace and shared a passionate kiss with her. Hands roamed freely on bodies freely given to each other. After several minutes. Susan looked into her lover's eyes and said. "I knew you would be pleased, my love. It was just like you said. It was so liberating, so thrilling, so... Fun!" She hugged the man again and said "I know that we need to get back to your time table, but I am so glad I could share this with you."

Diablo knew that the Mindsword had exploited a crack in the former heroine's psyche due to her anger with her husband at her first exposure, but it was his attentiveness and devotion that expanded that crack into a near earth shattering crevasse. As she was now, so soon after prolonged exposure to the sword and having committed such atrocities, he knew what he must do to make his power of her unshakeable. Tenderly he brushed the golden tresses from her face and looked deeply into her blue eyes. The villain cooed, "All things can wait my love. Now is your moment of victory. Now is my desire to demonstrate my love to my beloved. Nothing is more important than you!"

Sue could not have been more flattered if the words came from God himself. He was the only thing in her universe that mattered any more. As she stripped for her beloved he quickly took the scabbards off her and moved to place them into their mystic holding places, but something was amiss. Coinspinner was missing.

*******

Captain America had lost all capacity for thought. If he could he would will himself to **** just to escape this despair. As he felt his soul wilt like a bouquet of flowers in the hot desert sun, suddenly he felt something materialize under him. He was far to lost in the power of Soulcrusher to care about it, let alone react. Still, some instinct told him to grab a hold. With a grip like a vise, the super soldier locked onto the hilt of a blade. Suddenly the floor beneath him gave way, dropping the man into the high tide surf under the wharf. Somehow, even though he was immobile and still grasping the meter long blade, the hero of WWII was able to float safely on the surface. Soon the direction of the current changed and the limp body was washed out into the harbor, still clutching his rescuer, Coinspinner, the Sword of Chance.