The Protectors (Limited Series)

Issue #1

(continued from Morningstar: The Northern Light)

Arriving at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Powersurge and Morningstar were again quickly ushered into a a briefing room filled with costumed heroes. Having spent many nights in years past reviewing S.H.I.E.D. files on the Protector's prospective talent pool, Powersurgge immediately began attaching faces to names and countries to power sets ....

Black Panther (Wakanda): Definite Class A material, possessed of superb athelticism and combat skills, complimented by keen intellect and leadership ability.

Namor(Atlantis): Great. Another Class A prospect, with extraordinary superhuman strength and resilience, flight, swimming and water-breathing, but complimented by a blunt, headstrong, and arguementative attitude.

Binary (United States): Formerly known as Ms.Marvel before, you know, before Rogue permanently absorbed her powers and memories. Intel on her is way dated, but from what I've heard, her powers are related to some interstellar phenomenon. Hence the name, I presume. From what I saw during my first two weeks at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, the lady can fly, fight, and packs enough of a punch to knock Rogue into orbit. She was recently involved in Operation: Galactic Storm and saved the solar system, I think. In any case, she's a major heavy weight. And an old friend of the Wolvster. Apparently the lady has skills, every inch a shield-maiden.

USAgent (United States): This guy acted as Captain America awhile back when Steve had a falling out with the government. He has low-grade superhuman strength, is quite athletic, and is a solid hand-to-hand combatant. From what I've heard, even as Cap embodies the better values of American culture and patriotism, USAgent embodies all of the worst, being your steroetypical "loudmouthed, egotistical American".

Crimson Dynamo (Russia): A member of the former Soviet Super Soldiers. I wonder what they're calling themselves these days? I met him briefly following the Shadowlord Affair. He is equipped with a suit of hi-tech battle armour powerful enough to challenge Iron Man; which he has done on a couple of occassions. I wonder if thats a bad thing?

Darkstar (Russia): Another member of the former Soviet Super Soldiers that I had the pleasure of meeting. She's a reverse image of her countrywoman, Starlight ... ... ... ...

Darkstar can generate and manipulate "darkforce" energy in a manner similar to Morningstar's control of light. Apparently, she can use this power to affect a "mass" teleport. Could come in handy.

Sunfire (Japan): A former X-Men, but before my time. He is a dedicated champion of his homeland, but also willful and opinionated ... at least with us, what did Wolvie call it? Us "gaijin"? Powerwise, Sunfire is Japan's version of, well, of me! But with fire as opposed to raw energy. So, he offers what I offer, but with the addition of a "glowing personality". Like Namor wasn't bad enough? Good choice, Nick.

Radioactive Man (China): Ummm, former villain??? Though I'm not too sure about the entire "former" part. This just keeps getting better and better. The guy's basically a walking nuclear reactor, with power enough to challenge the Almighty Himself (Thor). I don't know what to think of his prescence here. And apparently, judging by the space everyone is giving him, no one else does either. Or maybe that's just the entire "walking nuclear reactor" thing?

The Examiner (Japan): Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! My old team-mate and personal friend. Examiner is a formidable athlete and personal combatant, as well as a scientific and technological genius. He is equipped with protective body armour, gauntlets capable of projecting a hefty jolt of energy, and best of all, an optics helmet with insane powers of visual analysis. I looked through it once. Not a clue. But "Professor Ex" knows how to read it, and it has often meant the difference between victory and defeat.

Battlehammer (United Kingdom): Scotland to be specific. Another former Protector and personal friend. He is quite possibly the strongest human on the face of the planet, 'cept for Binary, maybe. Elmer is a team player, and very much a working man's man. I should probably keep him away from both Namor and Sunfire.

Nightcrawler (United Kingdom): German born and bred, but currently on loan. A fellow mutant, a fellow X-Man, and despite his being a tad bit touched by the "holy ghost", an all around good guy. Kurt is also an acrobat par excellence, a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, a definite team-player, unusually stealthy thanks to his indigo-skin, and on top of all that, capable of teleporting. He can carry more than one in a 'port, but between the accompanying sense of vertigo and the overwhleming stench of brimstone, it's not pleasant. I personally threw up the first time "the elf" teleported me. The second time too. Well, technically, I threw up the third time as well, but that was only into my mouth, and I'm not exactly going to boast about it. Shhhh ....

Shadowcat (United Kingdom): American born and bred, but like Kurt, currently on loan. Kate is another fellow mutant and X-Man. She was a cute kid the last time I saw her, but she's ... ummm ... "matured" over the past few years. Colossus ... tsk, tsk ... big shiney dumby. Ummm, yeah, the kid's a genius, really good with computers, and her level courage and maturity is just, well, really impressive. She's got some smooth HTH skills too ... something to do with Wolvie, Japan, and some demon-ninja-spirit. And, she can both phase, and phase through, solid matter.

Sabra (Isreal): A champion of her homeland and the last hero of significant repute in the room. While more of a solo operative, Sabra's psychological profile stated that she would function well in a group environment. I was considering her for membership when the Protectors was suddenly shut down. If I remember correctly her power-set includes flight, resilience, mid-range superhuman strength and ... paralysis quills??? Or was that the Porcupine Battle Armour???

Arabian Knight (Saudi Arabia): He has a magical scimitar and rope, and a flying carpet to boot. And maybe a genie lamp in there somewhere? I wonder if his magic can defy gravity???

Blitzkreig (Germany): I'm surprised they didn't send Energon instead, but then, the last thing we need here is yet another "difficult personality". Anyway, like the name suggests, Blitzkreig is a powerful electrical generator.

Peregrine (France): He, aaaah, has ... wings. They're very ... feathery. But hey, I'm sure he tries! Poor France. No wonder they're always getting picked on.

Shamrock (Republic of Ireland): Oh my! I see why the vikings had a thing for the Irish. The lass has some kind of probability manipulation powers. In otherwords, she's lucky. I bet. Ummm, apparently "lady luck" has some experience teaming with Peregrine. <smirk>

Morningstar (Canada): Last but certainly not least is this rising star. According to Department H files, he is a synthetic humanoid that was grown in a lab by a company called GenTech. While he does have the same base of knowledge as your average adult, it's all theory to him. Experientially he is only something, like, 4 years old. Lucky for us he is very obedient and has an innate sense for combat. Morningstar is a light generator and manipulator, that is also possessed of superhuman strength and resilience. He feeds off of, and stores solar energy in a process similar to photosynthesis. He can convert such energy to enhance his strength or light powers, or to regenerate or sustain himself. Potentially, his power level might very well approach those of Binary, and he has managed to singlehandedly defeat the Hulk! More often however, due to environmental factors that limit the amount of available solar energy, Morningstar hangs at around my power level.

As Powersurge and Morningstar at last made their way into the briefing room, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Examiner, and Battlehammer were all quick to greet them. Before long introductions were made all around. There was little time to acquanit, catch-up or reminisce however, before Lt.Col.Nick Fury entered the room.

After a quick recap of the situation to date, Fury stressed the need to acquire further intelligence on the "Gravity Well", not only to gauge Graviton's current level of power, but also so that they would not defeat the him only to find themselves with an unrestrained blackhole on their hands. Towards that end, S.H.I.E.L.D. intelligence had identified three major A.I.M. installations, any or all of which could potentially house detailed information on the Gravity Well. As such, the assmebled Protectors would be engaging in a coordianted attack on all three bases at once, with the goal of recovering any and all information on the Gravity Well.

Black Panther would lead the first team, comprised of Battlehammer, Crimson Dynamo, Darkstar, Shamrock, and Sunfire, ito an installation housed in the lava caverns beneath a dormant volcano in the Hawaiian Islands.

USAgent would lead the second team, comprised of Namor, Sabra, Arabian Knight, Nightcrawler, and Radioactive Man, to an underwater submarine complex off the east coast of the United States.

And Powersurge would lead the third team, comprised of Binary, Peregrine, Blitzkreigh, and Shadowcat, to an oil tanker currently situated off the northwest coast of Australia.

As for the Examiner and Morningstar; they would be engaging in a little recon mission.

USAgent was quick to object the prescence of the Radioactive Man on his team, but Fury quickly told him to stuff his objection and do his job. There was also some objection on behalf of Binary, who insisted that she was better suited for the recon misssion, but Fury merely noted her objection and explained that she was his "high card" and he wasn't ready to play her, and risk losing her, just yet.

Each team was given a brief time to gain some pasing familiarity with each other and their powers, but before long they were all speeding off toward their respective locations.

Issue #2

Arriving at their respective targets within seconds of each other, the three segments of the Protectors set about their business of taking control of the various A.I.M. bases and plundering their files for information on the "Gravity Well".

The USAgent's team burst into the submarine complex off the East Coast of the U.S.A. only to find it in shambles and taking on water from a recent battle, it's personel dead from gun-fire, and all the data in it's computer mainframe erased.

The Black Panter's team arrived to a similar scene at the complex housed in the lava tunnels in Hawaii. However, when they arrived at the base's central computer room they found themselves faced with a small troop of hi-tech soldiers. They were equipped with personal forcefields, advanced assualt rifles, concussive grenades, vibro-machetes capable of slicing through steel with ease, and were complimented a a 7' tall battlebot and a hovering device that fed additional power and thus strengthened the personal forcefields of the soldiers.

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This troop was quick to open fire on the heroes, and a brief battle erupted in which the soldiers referred to themselves as the Skyraiders and voiced the loyalty to Graviton. It did not last long however before the Skyraiders managed to puncture the tunnel walls and bring a torrent of magma into the complex from another more lively tunnel. With that, the soldiers activated the teleportation technology they also had at their disposal and made good their escape. Thanks to sheer dumb luck, presumably as a result of Shamrock's prescence, a subsequent collapse of the ceiling managed to hold the magma at bay long enough for the heroes to escape unharmed. The computer room however was lost, and neither Crimson Dynamo or Sunfire were able to salvage anything in their subsequent recon.

Both of the first two teams tried to relay their findings a.s.a.p., but by the time Powersurge and his team got the information, they were already in a three way battle against both an A.I.M. security force and a troop of Skyraiders; whom were already in the thick of it between themselves as the heroes arrived at the oil tanker. Binary was singlehandedly making short work of both forces when a Skyraider at last managed to tag her with his vibro-blade; which had the dual effect of making him and his blade explode and depriving her of her powers. After that, the situation heated up for the heroes, with Peregrine taking a nasty burst from a Skyraider assualt rifle and Blitzkreig being knocked out by the Skyraider battlebot. By that point however, both the A.I.M. security force and the Skyraiders force was in shambles, and both Powersurge and Shadowcat, "complimented" by an unpowered, but nevertheless healthy, Carol Danvers soon brought a decsive end to the fight and secured the installations data banks. While a number of the Skyraiders again escaped using their teleportation technology, a couple of them were captured for questioining.

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Meanwhile, as the other Protectors engaged in their respective missions, Morningstar was outfitted with the Examiner's visor, and lifted into space before setting out on his own for the point of "dead space" the Examiner had detected prior to the loss of the Avengers. He was to approach as close as possible, with the info. from the visor being transmitted to a remote viewer for the Examiner's analysis, and to retreat immediately in the face of any resistence.

The Canadian synthoid got no further than the Avengers did immediately before contact was lost with them -- and did spot a very large wheel-like space station with forks radiating out from a central structure to an outer ring -- when the the Examiner warned him of a sudden fluctuation in gravitional force and ordered him to get out of there. The synthoid responded without question, but quickly found a well-nigh irresistable force pulling at him, attempting to drag him toward the space-station. Nevertheless, with a titanic effort fueled by the abundent solar energies available in space, Morningstar managed to overcome and break free of the gravitional pull. Barely had he made his way out of the danger zone that had been established however, when he was confronted and attacked by a troop of Slyraiders that appeared out of nowhere.

The ensuing battle was brief, as the well-nigh full powered synthoid made short work of the Skyraiders. He was the guided by the Examiner into a proper reenrty into Earth's atmosphere and a return to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier; where the rest of the team soon reassembled.

Sorry for the looooong wait on this one folks. I've just had a lot going on over the past few months and thus little time or inclination. The story is written though so it's just a matter of time and inclination lining up. I should have the rest of the story and a couple pics that go with it up by the end of August.

My thanks to everyone that has shown interest in my stories and characters. I'm truly flattered! :)

Issue #3

Reassembling onboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Powersurge turned both the information he and his team had recovered over to the techies, while Blitzkreig, Peregrine and Binary reported, or were otherwise carried to, the sickbay. The prisoners that Powersurge's group secured were also turned over for interrogation.

In due time, the heroes were again reassembled in a briefing room where Morningstar assisted Binary in briefing the heroes on the hi-tech soldiers they had encountered. They called themselves the Skyraiders and were made up of elite military veterans from an alternate Earth; having arrived at this Earth dimension during a relatvely routine teleportation jump that somehow brought them into Graviton's prescence and service ... probably as a result of a wormhole according to the Examiner.

With that, the Examiner quickly assumed center stage in the briefing and touched on the nature of the Gravity Well, it's theoretical ability to open and regulate the power of a "micro-blackhole", and the possibility that Graviton had either succeeded in using the technology to open a micro-blackhole and/or had some how interfaced with the Gravity Well to amplify his abilities. He would however have to get a closer look at the actual systems in order to determine which and how to best shut it down. When USAgent asked why they couldn't just blow the station up, Examiner explained that IF a micro-blackhole had indeed been opened, destroying the regulatory systems might well unleash it's might upon the solar system. IF a micro-blackhole had been opened it would have to be shutdown according to the proper protocols.

And so Nick Fury explained that they would soon be lifted into outer-space, to just outside the perimeter of Graviton's presumed "gravitational perimeter" ... which presumbly enabled him to detect the approach of the Avengers and Morningstar. Once there, Morningstar, a spaceworthy Crimson Dynamo and a dozen droids would make a power dash for the Gravity Well space station. And with Graviton and his forces so distracted, Darkstar and Nightcrawler would teleport the heroes to the station in order to effect a shutdown of the Gravity Well and end the threat of Graviton himself.

Fury also informed the team that Peregrine, Blitzkreig, and Binary were all grounded for the duration of the mission. Carol vehemenantly protested this, and Powersurge testified to her field capability, but Fury insisted that her unique reaction to the Skyraiders made her an variable in the equation that could not be accounted for. Thus, his decision was final.

Before departing, each of the heroes was equipped with a cybernetically activated anti-gravity device that Iron Man had in the works just prior to being ordered into the field along with the Avengers. The devices were now ready. And while untested and limited in power, they just might give them the necessary edge should they come into direct confrontation with Graviton.

And so all went as planned, with Morningstar, Crimson Dynamo and their driod decoys deploying at the appropriate spot and, with the aid of Stark's anti-gravity technology, successfully drawing fire as Darkstar teleported first the Examiner, Battlehammer, and Nightcrawler onto the station, followed by Radiation Man, USAgent, and Namor, and finally Black Panther, Shamrock, the Arabian Knight, and herself; while Nightcrawler teleported first Powersurge and Shadowcat, and then Sabra and himself.

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Taking out a couple of Skyraider guards, the heroes quickly located a computer node that the Examiner could use to hack into the stations systems. He soon determined that, yes indeed, Graviton had used the technology to open a micro-blackhole and was using himself as a control mechanism via an interface unit he constructed/modified for that purpose. Luckily, Examiner knew exactly where he had to go to shut down the micro-blackhole and disconnect Graviton's interface, though he would require both Darkstar and Radiation Man's assistance ... Darkstar to teleport them there and Radiation Man to absorb the tremendous amounts of radition found at the shutdown point.

He also managed to locate the stations holding cells and main control room before Skyraiders began to burst through the doors and simply just appear in a surprise attack on the heroes. For all the surprise though, the Skyraiders were simply out classed, and it did not take long for the heroes to clean the floor with them. With that, Powersurge ordered Darkstar to take the Examiner and Radiation Man to the shutdown point, while Black Panther led Sabra, Sunfire, Namor, and USAgent to the holding cells in hopes of finding and freeing the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. In the meantime, Powersurge would himself lead Battlehammer, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Arabian Knight and Shamrock to confront Graviton in the central control room.

And so it went. The Examiner and his crew set to work without a hitch, while the Black Panther's team were forced into combat with a sizeable force of Skyraiders at the holding cell area.

As for Powersurge and his team; they made their way to the central control room, smashing through the doors in hopes of taking Graviton by surprise, but no sooner had they cleared the entrance when all were hit with immense G-force, slammed to the floor, and held in place. At the center of the circluar room sat a large well-like device, raised up on a broad circular platform, with four horn like prongs raising from it's rim. Energy flowed through these prongs toward the center of the Gravity Well where they combined to form a shimmering gold-silver field that encompassed a swirling mass of blackness about the size of a basketball. A few feet away form the Well itself sat another contraption, almost more reminscient of some medieval torture device than a pience of advanced technology, that connected to the Gravity Well via a series of tubes and wires. Spread eagle within this device stood Graviton.

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Disconnecting from the Gravity Well's regulation device, Graviton scoffed at the heroes, saying that they were not even worthy of his own native might, to say nothing of the Gravity Well's, and that in the face of either the heroes were ... irrelevant. As irrelevant as the Fantastic Four had been. As irrelevant as the Avengers had been. And with the most powerful heroes of Earth reduced to irrelevancy, nothng could stop him from at last ascending to his rightful place as Lord Emperor of a United Earth. Battlehammer boasted that there were still plenty of other heroes left on Earth, willing to fight to the last of them, and that a bloody and desolate Earth was all Graviton would ever be Lord Emperor of. And when Graviton rsponded by debasing Battlehammer's rustic Scottish ancestry, the brutes nostril's flared and his eyes burned with blue rage. With a grunt of immense effort, the Scottsman forced himself to his feet, and then one laboured step at a time began to make his way towards Master of Gravity. But while Graviton was clearly taken aback by this display of raw power, it was all in vain as the Scottish brute didn't make it more than five steps before Graviton focused his power and once again brought Battlehammer to the floor ... "with the ease that a grown man might hold down an infant".

Issue #4

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With Powersurge and his team defeated, and the mighty Battlehammer again brought to his knees, Graviton continued to boast of the extent of his new found power and the inevitability of his victory. Hoping to buy time, Powersurge and the other's kept him talking, insisting the Battlehammer was correct and that the people of Earth would defy him to their last. And Graviton confidently contested, saying that human greed and cowardice, combined with the survival instinct, would quickly lead to Earth's subjagation. Unable to suffer Graviton's arrogance any longer, Battlehammer, suffering under the strain of considerable g-force, grunted that he had read Graviton's file and that he knew very well that it wasn't leadership he was after. Rather, the Scotsman continued, it was clearly the only way he could ever hope to get laid. This statement clearly hit a nerve and so Graviton began to increase the gravitional force of Battelhammer's heart, which would have soon caused the giants death if not for the timely intervention of both Morningstar and Crimson Dynamo.

Having clearly served their goal of distacting the forces of Skyraiders and making short work of them, both Morningstar and Crimson Dyname came crashing into the Gravity Well's control centre and exposing it to the vacume of space. Well aware of the prescence of other heroes, Graviton was quick to react, and might well have defeated the duo as quickly as the others had the Arabian Knight not commanded his magi carpet to wrap itself around Graviton.

Nevertheless, Graviton managed to withstand the duo's initial onslaught and dramatically increase the g-force on the Arabian Knight; who let out a cry of anguish before falling completely silent. With that the Canadian synthoid and armoured Russian pressed their attack, but with the Arabian Knight and his distraction dealt with, it took only mere moments for Graviton to incapacitate them both.

And again Graviton began to boast, only to again be interrupted by the arrival of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the remaining Protectors (minus Examiner and Radiation Man). A massive melee broke out in which Graviton boasted of how of how powerful the Gravity Well had made him as he deflected their attacks, crushed heroes to the floor or hurled them out into space ... forcing their teammates to go rescue them.

With the battle quickly tunring against the assembled might of Earth's greatest heroes, Powersurge ordered his team to activate Stark's anti-gravity devices. All did save the Arabian Knight. As the others joined the fray, Powersurge and Shadowcat hung back. The Canadian mutant told her that he needed her to get the drop on Graviton and then phase him into the floor at about the level of his heart ... or his head. Her eyes filled with uncertainty at the suggestion, but Powersurge assured her that it was the only way.

Unfortuantely, Shadowcat failed to get the drop on Graviton, who imeddiately reacted by momenetarily increasing the pull of the sun's gravity on her; thus sending her hurtling out of the Gravity Well bound for certain destruction. While Powersurge had never tested his powers in the vacume of space before, prevailing theories were that his energy sheath would protect him from all of it's rigors, and so, without a second thought he raced after his former teammate.

While unsure of what he would do once he reached her, Powersurge nevertheless soon noticed a derelict Shi'ar space craft drifting nearby; presumably a left over from Operation: Galactic Storm. So, placing himself on a trajectory for both it and Shadowcat, the mutant deactivated his energy sheath at the last possible moment, snagging and an unconscious Shadowcat on his way by and within moments slammed into the hull of the derelict craft. Drifting in and out of consciousness himself, Powersurge was nevertheless able to get the ships door open and activate the the minimal life support before at last succumbing to the cold and lack of oxygen.

Meanwhile the battle continued to rage onboard the Gravity Well space station. Nightcrawler managed to land a multiple 'port on Graviton, but no sooner had he done so than Stark's anti-gravity devices began to fail. Thus, despite a momentary surge of effort by available heroes, it was not long before the battle began to once again shift in Graviton's favour, and his eventual victory became a certain matter of course.

Meanwhile, back on the Shi'ar vessel, Powersurge slowly drifted back into consciosness to find Shadowcat back on her feet and pecking away at the ships computers. She soon informed him that the ships power was neglible. It was essentially running of "fumes", most of which had to be devoted to life support. And as far as that went, they only had a few minutes of life support left. Recalling some talk from back in the day, regarding a reconfiguration of the ships energy ccells and the ability of an energy generator of substantial power to be able to refuel the cell, Powersurge told Shadowcat to get it ready for a focused pulseblast. And while she briefly contested, saying that the strain might well kill the Canadian mutant, both knew that there was no other choice. Either one lives and one dies, or they both die. And so it went, with Shadowcat reconfiguring the energy cells and Powersurge delivering a focused pulseblast. And the plan worked, recharging the ailing enegy cell to full and ensuring several hours of life support and the enough power to bring undamaged systems, such as communication back online.

As for Powersurge, he immediately collapsed from a massive heart attack brought on by the immense strain of firing off a focused pulsebalst. Shadowcat however managed to ressucitate him and get the med-bed up and running enough to sustain him until help came. Likewise, she put out a distress call to inform the others of their situation and location.

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Back on the Gravity Well space station, Graviton stood on the brink of victory when all of a sudden the hum of the Gravity Well ceased and the blackhole it was generating began to collapse in on itself. Apparently, the Examiner and Radiation Man had been successful in shutting the Gravity Well down.

Shock and enraged, Graviton claimed that he owuld not be so easily defeated. Slamming the remaining heroes hard to the floor, he once again climbed into the Gravity Well interface device and boasted that he would maintain the integrity of the blackhole via his own native might. Much to the horror of those heroes present and still conscious, he managed to prevent it's collapse. And then, to their even greater horror, and Graviton's own dismay, the Master of Gravity was torn apart molecule by molecule and sucked into the blackhole ... which now existed indepent of any external source.

Mr.Fantastic immedaiely deduced that it was growing and quickly contact the examiner and told him to reactive the Well before the blackhole grew beyond it's safety parametres. The Japanese hero did so, and then had Darkstar teleport both himself and Radiation Man to the control centre. Once there, he did what he does ... analyzing the blackhole with his visor. He soon informed the others that the Gravity Well technology was having no signficant effect on the blackhole and it was only a random probability field, undoubtedly springing from Shamrock's prescence, that was holding the blackhole in check. Even so, he estimated that within 15 minutes even that would no longer check it's growth.

The big brains of the assembled heroes quickly put their heads together, and quickkly shared with both their fellow heroes and S.H.I.E.L.D. down on Earth, that the smaller the blackhole, faster it "sheds" energy, which theoritetically hastens a blackholes demise in a grand explosion. The rate at which it sheds energy could be increased by the projection of "negative" energies into the blackhole. If only they could find a powerful enough source of the so-called "negative" energies, which quickly led the Examiner to question into the the status of Binary, who's powers, as luck would have it, were once again active. THe japanese heroe went on to explain that based on an analysis of Binary's energy signature, coupled with the effect the Skyraider's touch had on her, she might well be able to produce the desired "negative" energy, in the necessary amounts, to collapse the blackhole ... though the tremendous energies released upon it's collapse might well destroy the Earth.

Without much time for alternatives, Nick Fury gave the plan the go-ahead. Adding the Binary Iron Man, and Thor (who was once again nearing Earth), would be responsible for shielding the Earth from any subsequent blast via their energy absorption powers.

Sadly, Examiner also had to point out that all of this hinged upon Shamrock. She would need to stay hard by the blackhole until it's demise and would most likely be obliterated. While the Irishwoman knew that there was no other choice, and tearfully accepted her fate, she couldn't refrain from expressing her fear. And wit hthat Morningstar stepped forward, saying that she woudn't have to meet the end alone. He would stand at her side to the end, and perhaps, with a bit of luck, his shields would enable them to both survive the blast/s.

and so, wit hthe remaining heroes evac'ed from the space station, and all of the others in place, Binary began to dump massive enegeries into the blackhole. And as luck would have it, the blackhole soon began to collapse before releasing the titanic explosion that signalled it's death throws. Both Binary and Thor, Hammer in hand, took the brunt of the explosion, while Iron Man took on anything that got past them, leaving Earth's magnetic field to take care of the rest.

When all was said and down, the plan was successful. The blackhole was collapsed and the Earth was saved. Iron Man, whose armour had overloaded with massive influx of energy was rescued from his unconscious drift toward an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Before long both Shadowcat and the ailing Powersurge were rescued from the Shi'ar ship. And as it went, Shamrcok lived up to her name and both her and an exhausted Morningstar were eventually found to have survived ... thanks mostly to the synthoid's impeccable timing and ability to fly both himself and Shamrock a goodly distance away from the blackhole at the very moment of it's eventual demise.

In the wake of this incident, the U.N. decided that, while the Protectors would not be brought back to full operational status, it would continue to exist with all members offically on-call pending extraoridinary circumstances such as would require their activation.